DILG, broadcasters to plant trees in Leyte

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 21 -- The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office here and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) will team up anew for a planting activity dubbed “Oplan Broadcastreeing” on September 22.

DILG Eastern Visayas assistant regional director Artemio Caneja said the activity supports the government’s National Greening Program (NGP), which was aimed to reforest the remaining 7.1 million hectares of unproductive, denuded and degraded forestlands nationwide.

The activity will see more than 1,300 trees planted in the farming village of San Roque in Mayorga, Leyte.

Under the current administration, the Expanded NGP seeks to reforest some 1.2 million hectares from 2017-2022, in accordance with the updated 2016-2028 Master Plan for Forestry Development.

The groups will assemble at Plaza Rizal in this city at 4 a.m. before heading to the site.

“Aside from DILG staff and broadcasters, different government agencies are invited to the said activity so we can plant more trees. We must unify our efforts and jointly work towards environment protection to be able to conserve biodiversity and to prevent environmental degradation,” Caneja said.

For the past seven years now, the DILG and KBP have been conducting the said activity.

Launched in 2009, the “Oplan Broadcastreeing” project has received the Peace and Environment Award from the Universal Peace Federation in 2015 and the Tanging Bayani ng Kalikasan Award from the People Management Association of the Philippines in 2016. (LAAA/PNA)