3rd ID joins program on jatropha trees

ILOILO CITY — Even with marching orders to run communist insurgents to the ground, the Philippine Army has thrown its support behind the government’s efforts to look for alternative sources of energy.

Maj. Gen. Alphonsus Crucero, commanding general of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, has allocated a portion of the Camp Macario Peralta military reservation in Jamindan, Capiz to serve as a pilot area for the planting of jathropa trees, locally known as kasla, the sap of which is a rich source of biodiesel fuel.

Camp Macario Peralta, named after the commander of the Japanese resistance movement, is the headquarters of the 3rd ID.

Crucero has allotted 1,000 hectares of the reservation’s 33,310 hectares in Barangay Agluluway for the planting of kasla trees, of which 50 hectares will be for a tree nursery, said Maj. Gen. Lyndon Sollesta, spokesman of the 3rd ID.

"The first phase is already complete," Sollesta said. "This is the Army’s contribution to the country’s energy independence and support for the government’s energy measures."

President Arroyo has identified military camps and reservations around the country as pilot areas for the planting of jatropha trees.

Sollesta said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is drawing up plans for the purchase of either kasla seedlings or cuttings.