Cotabato Mayor Offers Free Fruit Tree Seedlings

Philippine public service, where politicians are commonly perceived as corrupt and incompetent, still has a huge number of outstanding officials who think outside of the box and stand out as models.
A Mayor of one of the upland towns of my province, North Cotabato, has started a program which aims to address Food Security and Environmental Protection.
Mayor Cristobal Cadungon, whose father founded Antipas town named after the Province of Antique and the City of Passi where his family came from, offers free Fruit Tree seedlings to every farmer and landowner with vacant areas in their farms.
The program is a very practical approach to address landslides in the town of 55,200 hectares with an elevation of between 400 to 600 meters above sea level.
In the past, Antipas largely agricultural with a population of 26,000, had suffered from landslides because of massive deforestation.
With the planting of rubber trees and recently fruit trees like Durian, Mangosteen, Jackfruit, Cempedak, high-value Coconut and others which are given out for free by the local government unit, landslides are now rare.
This is Common Sense Governance using limited resources of the town for very effective programs which address real problems.
This is an exhilarating departure from traditional political programs of building Purok centers, splurging funds for the fiestas, nauseating tarpaulins, slippers, umbrellas and caps.
How I wish we have more local chief executives like Mayor Cristobal Cadungon who think about the future and the welfare of the next generation.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!