IgaCos joins celebration

ISLAND GARDEN CITY OF SAMAL, October 2 -  About 1196 registered planters participated the Treevolution: Greening MindaNow tree planting activity and were able to plant approximately 23,914 cacao seedlings in the 50 hectares DENR NGP planting  site located in Barangay Tagpopongan, Babak District, IGaCoS on September 26.

At around 4:00AM, planters and stewards in white shirts swarmed at the registration area facilitated by  DENR-Panabo Community ENRO staff.  On the otherhand,  the documenters from the local government of Samal  mounted their videocamera and still camera at the designated entrance area to document all the planters  going to the planting site while  other documenters also went ahead together with the assigned shepherds in the area .

After registering and receiving a wristband, the Planters armed with bolo and other digging tools passed through the entry area showing their wristband to the video and camera for documentation and proceeded to the planting site in groups guided by the shepherds and stewards.

The registration ended at exactly 8:00 o’clock in the morning, but late comers were still recorded, recognizing their willingness to participate yet not allowed to proceed to the planting area since they could no longer reached to the planting site given its distance and the limited time.

At exactly 8:30 AM a loud bang signalled the start of the historical simultaneous planting of cacao seedlings  in the three  planting site which also ended at 9:30 AM.

Tired yet feeling fulfilled volunteer planters shared almost the same exciting and difficult tree planting experiences and were glad to be part in the historical event for mother earth and as effort to beat Guinness World Record for most planted trees in an hour.

Among those who joined the  simultaneous massive tree planting in various location in Mindanao were from the national and local government: Philippine National Police- Samal(PNP-Samal),Bureau of Fire Protection ( BFP), Bureau of Jail Management of the Phil. (BJMP), DepEd Samal Division, , IGaCoS officials and employees,  Barangay officials, Samal Force Multipliers, Task Force Samal and from the private organizations: KARANCHO-Samal, Samal Mountaineering Club (SaMoC), 4Ps beneficiaries,  Samal residents and other voluntary groups.

As for Guinness World Records  bid, the planted trees will still undergo inspection and validation.(MTA Samal cio)