Tuguegarao City Mayor Atty. Jefferson P. Soriano stresses a point during the open forum of first ever Tree Summit of the Tuguegarao One Million Trees Movement.
Tuguegarao City launches 1M Trees Movement on Earth Day
TUGUEGARAO CITY — In celebration of the World Earth Day, Tuguegarao City launches its One Million Trees Movement through its first ever Tree Summit.
The Tuguegarao One Million Trees Movement is a joint project of the Tuguegarao City Government, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Cagayan State University, the Schools Division of Tuguegarao City, and the proponent of the movement, the Northern Natural Resource Conservation, Inc.
The aim of the movement is to encourage Tuguegarao residents and environmental advocates to restore the city’s natural state through the planting and growing of one million trees in the next three years to counter the effects of climate change.
“[In] Tuguegarao City, the effects of climate change are highly evident. It is time to act. The Tuguegarao City Government [aims to] address this reality through the One Million Trees Movement,” City Mayor Atty. Jefferson P. Soriano said during his Welcome Remarks.
To ensure sustainability of the movement, the Eight City Council of Tuguegarao City institutionalized the Tuguegarao One Million Trees Movement through the enactment of City Ordinance No. 26-08-2021. The same ordinance localized Proclamation No. 643 declaring June 25 of every year as Philippine Arbor Day which requires all able-bodied citizens to plant one tree every year.
The four-hour summit was participated in by regional line agencies, civil society organizations, barangay captains, SK officials, business establishments, and other private individuals.
Discussed in the summit were Climate Change and its Effects by NOAH Center Executive Director Alfredo Lagmay, Climate Change Resiliency by World Bank consulting lawyer Karen Jimeno, Bamboo Industry and Climate Change Mitigation by Philippine Bamboo Foundation president Edgardo Manda, and Tuguegarao One Million Trees Movement by NNRC founders Angelo Giovanni Guzman and Maria Rosario Soriano.
Guzman approached Mayor Soriano in September last year and presented the project.
“Until one fateful September day last year, when I gathered just enough courage and kapal ng mukha to try and make a case of my dream again. Telling him [Mayor Soriano] about the Koronadal City experience. I was taken aback when he said, ‘Okay let’s go!’. And that was it. Those three words are the sweetest three words I have ever heard. I was asking for 100K trees and yet he gave me a number that makes me smile to this very day. 1 million trees for my beloved Tuguegarao. I said to myself, this is not only a project. This is a Life Mission already. Wow Tuguegarao na Talaga,” said Guzman.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu gave his keynote speech in the event. The Tree Summit culminated in the signing of Pledge of Commitment of all participants.
