The police reforestation program, one of the plans instituted by the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, is being complied with in Negros Oriental, deputy provincial director, Supt. Alet Virtucio, said yesterday.

Virtucio said the Philippine National Police is required by the DILG to plant 10 million trees nationwide by December 2012. The project is a brainchild of the late secretary, who was against illegal logging and wanted to protect and sustain the environment, he added.

In Negros Oriental, Virtucio said, each of the 1,203 police personnel has been required to plant a minimum of six tree seedlings every month. The program started in February.

He said they have been planting mostly fruit-bearing trees and mangrove. Virtucio said the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office has already overshot its quota for the last eight months of this year, and he said he is confident that they will hit the target by December.

He added that the survival rate of the seedlings planted is at 75 percent. Virtucio said those that will not survive will immediately be replaced, adding that the NOPPO is regularly monitoring its reforestation project.*RA

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