Clad in their usual but distinct green uniform shirts, men and women of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) walked a kilometer of mountainous terrain towards the green direction and planted trees.
Led by Undersecretary Arturo G. Cacdac, Jr., PDEA Director General and Tanay, Rizal Mayor Rafael Tanjuatco, participants from the local government of Tanay, the PNP Police Regional Office 4A, Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Cuyambay High School Boys/Girls Scouts, Cuyambay elementary
students and PDEA personnel, planted some 550 saplings of dalandan and assorted fruit-bearing trees in a network of burrow holes at the PDEA/Tanay Park, a 10-hectare idle land in Sitio Tablon, Barangay Cuyambay, Tanay, Rizal on June 26, 2015.
“The establishment of PDEA/Tanay Park is a joint undertaking between the local government of Tanay, Rizal, through the auspices of Mayor Tanjuatco and PDEA as contribution to the country’s National Greening Program (NGP), a massive forest-rehabilitation initiative of the government.” Cacdac said, who is a farmer by heart.
Cacdac added that the tree planting activity, the second to be conducted, is pursuant to Executive Order No. 26 Series of 2011, otherwise known as “Declaring an Interdepartmental Convergence Initiative for a National Greening Program”.
The NGP’s goal is to plant some 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million hectares for a period of six years from 2011 to 2016. All students and government employees are individually required to plant a minimum of ten seedlings per year, while private sectors
and civil society groups are likewise encourage to participate in the greening program.
Hundreds of saplings of fruit-bearing trees such as mango, pili, caimito, langka and guyabano were planted by PDEA personnel led by Cacdac, the local government of Tanay, Tanay Municipal Police and 2nd Infantry Division, AFP during the first tree-planting activity last July 11, 2014.
“Green is the color of nature, fertility, and life in general. Green is also the color of PDEA’s identity. Thus it has become the color of the nations’ war against the drug menace,” Cacdac
noted.
“Planting trees is essential to mitigate the effects of global change and preserve the natural environment for the future generations to come. We can proudly say that we have done our part,” the PDEA chief said, showing a sign of approval– an upward gesture of a green thumb.
The tree-planting activity is conjunction with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, or IDADAIT observed every 26th of June as per resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 1, 1987. This year’s theme is “Let’s Develop Our Lives, Our Communities, Our Identity Without Drugs” (Mr. Glenn J. Malapad, OIC, Public Information Office, PDEA)
Posted By: Edrillan Pasion
