PAPI Joins National Greening Program

PAPI Joins National 

Greening Program

By JESSICA M. BACUD

CORDON, Isabela -- The Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI) has joined the government’s National Greening Program, initially with a recent tree-planting outing at its two-hectare farm at Sitio Estampa, Quirino, Cordon, Isabela.

PAPI Region II coordinator Jessica Bacud and PAPI Board director for Luzon and Isabela chapter president MacArthur Daguro coordinated the tree planting activity with the local DENR-CENRO office, the Office of the Isabela Provincial Governor and the Cordon Local Government Unit.

DENR personnel led by CENRO Mindo Aquino, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from the Mariano Marcos National High School led by Scout Master Danny dela Cruz, Cordon employees, Isabela PIA personnel led by Merlito Edale, other local volunteer groups, and local PAPI members led by Daguro and Bacud participated in the tree planting activities.

PAPI Executive Vice President Johnny C. Nunez motored up to Isabela to support and participate in the activity. With him were PAPI national treasurer Nelson Santos, CALABARZON Herald Group publisher Nena Mallari, and staff personnel Carmela Cruz and Andrew Amores,

Louie Ariola, PAPI national president said their PAPI’s decision to join the government’s National Greening Program is an expression of a core value which PAPI treasures, and for which they have tasked their Isabela Chapter to pursue the Cordon project seriously as part of its corporate social responsibility for sound environmental care.

In his brief remarks at the event’s simple opening rites on-site, PAPI EVP Nunez said the bald mountainsides of the Cordilleras should not spell hopelessness for Filipinos, “but should instead pose a challenge for us to rectify our past errors and resolve to ensure the survival of our future generations and of posterity by helping restore our lost forest cover.” He recalled the vast successful reforestation projects he had personally seen in Guangxi Province, Southern China.

Nunez said PAPI plans to plant more bamboos as part of its NGP involvement. He noted that with the ASEAN Integration in 2015, bamboos could be raw materials for signature Philippine products for the ASEAN common market of over 600 million consumers.

The PAPI tree farm in Cordon, Isabela is awarded to the media organization during its 18thNational Press Congress held in Cauayan City in February 2014, hosted by the PAPI Isabela chapter. The area forms part of the base of the Cordillera Mountain range. Isabela Gov. Faustino G. Dy III has pledged his support for the project.

Daguro and Bacud said the recent tree planting activity is just an initial move of their group. “We intend to pursue this initiative as tasked and mandated by our national PAPI leadership,” they stressed. They also thanked DENR for the Mahogany and Narra seedlings planted, and Cordon Mayor Laurencio Zuniega for providing transportation for the participants to the tree farm site and back.

The NGP seeks to plant 1.5 billion trees in about 1.5 million hectares of denuded forest lands over six years from 2011 to 2016. /MP