‘It Isn’t Too Late Yet To Plant Trees Today!’

The best time to plant trees to mitigate flooding and landslides should have been 20 years ago but it is not too late yet to start doing it today.
My realization of the critical relationship between the forest and spring water happened as early as when I was a young boy growing up in a forestal village of Nueva Vida in the boundaries of my hometown, Mlang, and our neighbor town of Makilala in North Cotabato.
I saw how the “Tubod” or springwater disappeared when the trees were cut down and this left an indelible mental imprint in me.
When I was elected Governor of North Cotabato in 1998, I initiated the advocacy to protect the remaining forests of Mt. Apo and the forests surrounding my province.
The Provincial Legislative Council approved my request to ban the passage of logging trucks loaded with timber from nearby Maguindanao Province from passing through our portion of the national highway en route to Davao.
It was a controversial measure and I faced legal challenges but I stood my ground and after we impounded several logging trucks and confiscated timbers, the transport of logs stopped.
As Secretary of Agriculture, I issued a Department Order which classified Bamboo as an agricultural product and designed a program called “Bantay Kagubatan” which involved engaging tribal families to plant trees and guard the forests.
It was a proposal which I submitted to then Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez who excitedly welcomed the program but failed to implement it when she failed to sail through eh Commission on Appointments.
As I traveled around the country, I did not fail to remind Policy Makers of the critical importance of protecting the forests for sustainable Agriculture.
I was accused of encroaching into the territory of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources but I continued my advocacy just the same.
Moving to the Mindanao Development Authority in August 2019, I led the organization of the Mindanao Bamboo Industry Development Council and identified nine River Basins as priority areas for Bamboo farming.
The advocacy, however, fell on the deaf ears of policy makers and even the DENR itself which had continued its flawed National
Greening Program.
That, however, would not stop me.
If the national decision makers do not see the urgency of addressing the threats posed by denuded mountains to national survival, we will start it at the local level.
As I make my bid to return to the top post of North Cotabato as Governor, I have designed programs for Bamboo Development, Fruit Tree Farming and Industrial Tree Farming, especially the propagation of Falcata a tree species which grows well and fast in the province.
Unlike the directionless National Greening Program, however, the programs I have designed will have a complete value chain which would involve the establishment of processing facilities to produce Engineered Bamboo, Market Fruits and wood processing for Falcata and similar species.
North Cotabato will become a model of a local government unit which will establish sustainable Agriculture by ensuring that our forests are green and our sources of water for Agriculture are protected and preserved.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!