57 bishops ‘adopt’ Caraga mountain

BUTUAN CITY — Some 57 bishops of different religious denominations throughout the country will launch the "Adopt a Mountain, Adopt-a-Bay" Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with Secretary Heherson Alvarez in this city on Sept. 19.

DENR Caraga Regional Executive Director Benjamen Tumaliuan told The STAR that the DENR has chosen Caraga as the launching pad of the program because of the region’s unique, interesting environment profile, good terrain and the fertile soil it possessed saying, that everything you throw in it will grow and standing barefooted in Caraga’s soil.

The launching will be held at the Masao Beach in Barangay Masao in this city with Secretary Alvarez signing a memorandum of agreement with the bishops, local government units and private organizations involved in the project.

The Bishop will adopt Mt. Mayapay, a mountain range situated near the boundary of Butuan City and Buenavista, Agusan del Norte as the pilot project. Mt. Mayapay has suffered from illegal logging the past years.

Now it is the site of many reforestation program.

"The bishops will provide manpower for the reforestation program by making use of students of sectarian schools of the different religious denominations while DENR will provide care and seedlings," says Tumaliuan.

Tumaliuan said private sector such as CARE Foundation, Inc. have also poured in their resources for the project in observance of the declaration of the year 2002 as the International Year of the Mountain.