Groups want to plant million trees around ex MILF camp

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  --- The military aims to plant a million forest trees in the surroundings of the 20,000-hectare former main bastion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front before the proposed establishment of the Bangsamoro entity in 2016.

Col. Noli Orense, commander of the Army’s 603rd Brigade, which is based in Camp Abubakar and also now known as military's Camp Iranun, said the re-implementation of the “Balik Kalikasan” project in the area  supports the environmental protection initiative.

“That may seem a `long shot,’ but absolutely achievable if we in the uniformed security sector, the civil society organizations, and the executive department of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will pool our efforts together towards that goal,” he said.

The 603rd Brigade, whose headquarters sits on the center of the MILF’s former Abubakar Assidik Complex, has been implementing community reforestation projects since the government's take over of the area in 2000.

The former MILF stronghold, established by the late Egyptian-trained cleric Imam Salamat Hashim, in 1981 after he and his followers bolted from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), was a showcase of the group’s concept of a puritan Islamic community, until it was liberated from rebel occupation in 2000.

ARMM natural resources secretary Kahal Kedtag said their re-activated Balik Kalikasan program aims to reforest the surroundings of the camp, hoping that the MILF-led Bangsamoro entity will declare it a protected forestland and historical site.

Camp Abubakar is a fertile plateau surrounded by tropical rainforests, and criss-crossed by rivers that straddle through farming enclaves in lower areas in Maguindanao’s adjoining Barira, Buldon, Matanog and Parang towns, all in the second district of the province.

Kedtag, Orense, representatives of the regional police, and ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman launched the reactivated Balik Kalikasan project last week in Camp Abubakar, to kick off a region-wide reforestation project, and to celebrate the March 27, 2014 signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro by the government and the MILF.

The project was first implemented in 2006 but was discontinued.

Kedtag said they are planning to plant enough Mahogany, Antipolo, Narra and other forest tree seedlings in the surroundings of Camp Abubakar to restore its forest cover by the time the Bangsamoro political entity is established.

“By 2016 we must already have planted no less than 10 million or more trees in Camp Abubakar and in other watershed areas in the autonomous region,” Kedtag said.

The ARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, which the MILF wants to group together under a new Bangsamoro government.

Orense said the 603rd Brigade has committed the support of all its enlisted members and commissioned officers to the Balik Kalikasan project.

“This project is parallel with the brigade’s reforestation effort. We will, thus, support it to the best we can,” Orense said. - John Unson