SINILOAN, Laguna (Sept. 13, 2023) — The media group Prime Alliance of Publishers, Editors, and Reporters (PAPER.Ph) led about 500 tree planters here in the grand launching of One Movement’s One Million Trees To Protect the Sierra Madre Mountain Range.
Members of the Laguna Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Natural Resources, and provincial and municipal employees trekked up to the slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Barangays Magsaysay and Laguio, planting trees and bamboo along the way.
“This is our small contribution to the environment and to show our support to the efforts of President Bongbong Marcos as one of his priorities,” PAPER.Ph Tarlac Chapter President Ronjie Daquigan said.
One Movement Inc.’s activity coincided with the birthday of President Bongbong Marcos, who turned 66 today.
The Gerona Councilor also mentioned that the activity goes beyond mere tree planting.
“The one million trees and bamboo for the Sierra Madre will also create a P1 billion eco-tourism industry that will also help secure food and provide a livelihood to the people and economically develop and culturally revitalize the communities served by the mountain range,” Daquigan added.
PAPER.Ph National Chairman, Boni Dacayanan, led several Tarlac-based journalists including Daquigan, Beth Capiral-Gonzales, Jo Torres, Julie Calma, Aida Tabamo, Ronald Alborote, and Ruel Magcalas.
The kick-off ceremony of the tree planting activity was also done in Siniloan, Laguna, back in March. This was followed by another tree planting activity in Bignayan Eco-Agro Forestry Tourism Park, Angono, Rizal, in April.
One Movement aims to plant a total of one million trees this year, organizing 1,000 tree planters in 10 provinces that lie along the 540-kilometer Sierra Madre – Aurora, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Quezon, Quirino, Rizal, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and Cagayan.
The mountain range serves as a typhoon barrier, reducing the effect of incoming typhoons from the Pacific Ocean before reaching the central mainland.
“Hindi man direktang kasama ang probinsya ng Tarlac sa nabanggit na sampung probinsiya ay dapat pa rin tayong lumahok sa adhikain ng One Movement. Ang Tarlac Province ay laging napo-protektahan ng Sierra Madre kapag may mga bagyong dumarating,” Dacayanan said.
The activity is in line with the Arbor Day Act of 2012, which requires that all able-bodied citizens of the Philippines who are at least 12 years of age plant a tree each year.
One Movement, Inc. is a civil society group in good governance.
