DENR completes National Greening Program in Oslob

CEBU, Philippines - Three years since the National Greening Program was started, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Argao has declared that the project in Oslob town is already 100 complete.

“We are one hundred percent complete. What we are now doing maintenance works to ensure that the saplings become full-grown trees,” said Flordeliza Geyrozaga, acting CENRO-Argao.

The 15 towns from Argao to Dumanjug, including Oslob, are under CENRO-Argao.

Based on its report, 228,000 seedlings were planted on 456 hectares of timberland in Oslob in 2011. An additional 230 hec-tares and 3, 089 hectares were planted in 2012 and 2013, respectively. This year, they are now 3,467 hectares.

A huge portion of this plantation is being cared for by Tumalog, Daanglungsod, Canyang Upland Farmers Association.

Geyrozaga said that other areas in the province have also been planted with different kinds of trees, the big bulk, however, is in Oslob, with five of its timberlands have been grown with Pangatuon, Molave, Maribuhok, and other indigenous trees.

TUDACUPA, one of the five people’s organizations in Oslob involved with NGP, takes care of the 1, 469 hectares of plantation. The organization has 50 members. The last saplings were plan-ted in June this year, said Samuel Montejo, CENRO-Argao’s forest management head.

Montejo said TUDACUPA also grows seedlings in case the ones already planted suddenly die because of grass fire or other reason. Common seedlings planted in Daanglungsod and its neighboring barangays are Mamalis (local term “Tikala”), Molave, Agoho del Monte, and Cebu cinnamon.

Before 2011, Montejo said this area of Oslob, which is in the upland part overlooking the town’s serene seawaters and the famous Sumilon Island, the wide timberland was all “Malatanglad” and other shrubs, which caused grassfires during summer. Last grassfire was last year, affecting three hectares of the plantation.

In exchange of taking care of the plants, the organization gets funding, which it can use to pay for its workers, from the national government. Since 2011, TUDACUPA was awarded a total of P14 million, in which a portion of it was used to buy a truck to transport its materials within and outside the plantation.

Timoteo Miras, the organization’s president, said the project has helped them a lot because they were only relying on the little income from their farm before the program.

Montejo said it is difficult to grow fruit-bearing trees in that side of Oslob, as it is directly exposed to the strong winds during typhoon apart from the fact that the soil is not suitable for such kind of plants, hence farmers did not earn well before NGP.

Each member of TUDACUP receives P5,000 per month from this project, which Miras said is far more than what they used to have before. But more than what they’re getting from it, Miras said they now understand the purpose of having so many trees around them which is to reverse the effects of climate change.

Geyrozaga said apart from the funding the farmers involved will also be awarded the tenural instrument, which allows them to manage the forest. The CENRO head said the NGP is not only meant to reduce the effects of climate change, it is also aimed at reducing poverty. She explained that once the trees are ready for harvest, the farmers can then start earning from it.

Geyrozaga said there’s so much to be done to address climate change, but since the Philippines is “poor,” planting millions of trees is all it can do. However, she hoped that with the mindset most Filipinos have, the project could be sustained.

“Unta this project can be sustained. When it does, this can be a source for renewable energy or protection against soil erosion,” she said. — (FREEMAN)