9 government agencies, NGOs remember 'Ondoy'

MANILA, Philippines - To commemorate tropical storm “Ondoy” which hit Metro Manila and neighboring provinces three years ago yesterday, around 500 volunteers from nine government and non-government organizations planted some 8,000 seedlings of 10 indigenous species in a 10-hectare area of the Marikina watershed.

The participants are from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Metro Manila Development Authority, the Office of the Solicitor General, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Climate Change Congress of the Philippines, the private sector-led Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) and its partner-organizations including Smart Communications Inc.

About 10 hectares of the watershed have been committed for planting. The area is part of the 20 hectares that Smart has committed to replant for the Marikina watershed this year.

“What happened three years ago remains vivid to each and every one of us. The damage, the loss, the emotional scars are still there, particularly to those who have lost their love ones. But somehow it taught us some good lessons to be more resilient in light of climate change,” Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said.

He cited the continuing efforts of the government and other sectors not only in rehabilitating the environment but also in capacitating the people in disaster risk reduction.

“More than anything else, educating our people is the key to surviving climate change,” he said.

Paje also congratulated Smart Communications, the PDRF and the Wide-out Workforces for launching the SnapPlot system, saying the new technology will not only boost the department’s monitoring capability but would also encourage public participation.

The DENR represented by Undersecretary for Field Operations Demetrio Ignacio, the PDRF, Smart Communications Inc. and Wide-Out Workforces Inc. signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the implementation of SnapPlot, a photo sharing platform using mobile devices, and a website for the Marikina watershed as a pilot site.

SnapPlot system is a photo-sharing platform using the SnapPlot mobile app which allows users to “snap” photos with location data (GPS), add relevant information and upload them to the SnapPlot website.

The mobile app will be used for the National Greening Program (NGP) and for watershed management in other areas of the country.

The NGP aims to plant some 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million hectares from 2011 to 2016 in lands of the public domain.

With SnapPlot, the DENR can monitor the progress of NGP, step up enforcement, and collect data.