It’s not only the planting

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Philippine National Police has announced that it will plant ten million trees all over the country this year. The announcement said this project is in support of the National Greening Program of the government that hopes to grow 1.5 billion trees all over the 7,100 islands of the country in the next five years.

This is a program that nobody can dismiss or belittle, knowing as we all do now, how much damage the lack of trees in our forests and even in our communities, rural and urban, can suffer in times of calamities, most especially when typhoons hit our provinces and cities. We have all seen what destruction can be wrought in areas where hills and mountain slopes have become bald after years of abuse through illegal logging that has denuded large tracts of lands all over the country, exposing us all to grave danger during floods and the landslides they often cause.

We therefore congratulate the Philippine National Police, and its partner in this endeavor, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which is actually the key figure in undertakings like this. How wonderful it is to envision a Philippines five or six years from now, covered lushly with greenery, instead of the brown and scraggy cover we see when looking out from planes traveling across the country. Will this come to pass, at least, within our lifetime?

Admittedly, this is a grandiose plan, similar ones to which we had heard before. One cannot help having reservations about its implementation, however. Over the years, and especially after a particularly strong typhoon or landslide has been reported in some parts of the country, we hear about government entities, non-government organizations, schools, civic clubs, and even private businesses, announce tree-planting activities which they launch with accompanying fanfare – photo opportunities, press releases, and all.

But after a few weeks, hardly anything is seen of the hundreds of seedlings that, in most instances, are left to grow or die, with their planters forgetting about them. Those that manage to thrive and develop saplings are soon gone, too, having been chopped up for firewood by slum dwellers in the areas.

Does the PNP project include a plan to ensure continuous maintenance of the tree planted, so they will thrive and grow long after the pictures are published and the names of those who stuck the saplings in the sand are no longer mentioned in the media?

If there is no assurance of this, perhaps the planners of this beautiful idea had better forget it.*