PBSP volunteers start greening Tabunan

PBSP volunteers start greening Tabunan
By Candeze R. Mongaya
Cebu Daily News
June 20, 2010


FOR Janice Inop, an employee of Cebu Micro Electronic Inc., it was her first time to plant trees with other volunteers.

After a morning of fresh air in the mountain barangay of Tabunan, Cebu City, she said she would gladly do it again.

Inop was one of 800 individuals from 28 companies in Cebu who joined yesterday’s reforestation caravan kickoff of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in the Visayas.

For 15 Saturdays from June to September 25, volunteers will plant seedlings of native tree species in sitio Cantipla, Tabunan, Cebu City’s only remaining forest patch.

Yesterday, the first batch of volunteers planted in a 10-hectare site.

“We are very well attended and the support from companies is overwhelming,” said Melanie Ng, a PBSP Visayas Executive Committee member and president of the Philippine Retailers Association Cebu Chapter.

She brought her three sons to the activity, saying it was a perfect time for companies and famlies to reconnect with Mother Earth since June is also Environment Month.

The trees planted include almosiga, tipolo, bangkal and the Cebu Cinnamon which are all indigenous to Cebu.

Eileen Mangubat, Cebu Daily News publisher and chairperson of the Cebu hillyland development committee, said planting indigenous trees ensures they will thrive and develop the biodiversity of the area. On site communities will be partners in maintaining the seedlings to ensure an 85 percent survival rate.

The target of the PBSP is to plant 2 million trees over the next five years in the 29,000-hectare Central Cebu Protected Landscape.