Originally posted on The Manila Standard on February 26, 2017.
Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. is speeding up a six-million tree planting program for Surigao del Sur province after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last month finally gave the go-ahead to the activity two years after it was first submitted for approval.
Marcventures said in a statement said less than a month after the DENR approval, it signed a memorandum of agreement with the mayors of Carrascal, Cantilan, Madrid, Carmen and Lanuza towns, all in Surigao del Sur, to plant six million trees throughout the province where the company operates.
The program covers the planting of three million in trees mandated by the DENR, for which Marcventures first submitted a proposal to the DENR in February 2015. Environment Secretary Regina Paz Lopez approved the program last month, after all issues such as where the trees would be planted had finally been resolved.
Another three million trees will be planted also in partnership with the Surigao del Sur local governments as part of the company’s regular tree replanting activities.
The regional DENR has submitted an inventory of 1.5 million seedlings from various sources in the five municipalities which will provide employment. According to Marcventures vice chairman Isidro Alcantara, the MoA signatories hope to plant not only endemic species but also cash crops like coffee and cacao so that the livelihood component of the program will be recurring and could provide sustained yearly income for beneficiaries in the area.
Alcantara thanked Lanuza Mayor Salvacion Azarcon, Madrid Mayor Grace Kimura, Carmen Mayor Jane Valeroso-Plaza, Cantilan Mayor Philip Pichay, Carrascal Mayor Vicente Pimentel III, and Surigao del Sur Governor Vicente Pimentel Jr. for vigorously backing the tree planting effort.