ANGARA BACKS GREENING OF ROADS

To support the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) roadside tree-planting project, Senator Edgardo J. Angara has called for the establishment of a seedling bank in all DENR provincial offices, and has required all government road contractors to plant trees along highways.

"We have tasked the DENR to provide nurseries for plant seedlings to ensure the availability of indigenous planting materials to be planted along highways, roadsides, and other vacant portions of lands," Angara said. The income generated from the seedling banks will be used for its maintenance.

"We also asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to require the winning road contractors to plant trees on the roadsides. They shall include in their design the planting of indigenous trees such as narra and molave which are now fast disappearing because of forest destruction."

Angara included this special provision - the establishment of a seedling bank of indigenous trees - in the Php1.227-trillion national budget for 2008 signed into law last Tuesday. He chaired Subcommittee C of the Senate Committee on Finance which covered the food and agriculture, higher education, and trade, tourism and culture clusters of government agencies and departments, including the DENR.

Angara stressed that planting trees will address the country's deteriorating environmental condition and counteract the impacts of global warming.

"While we strive to use our natural resources to uplift our people from poverty, we must make sure that the kind of development we promote is sustainable," said Angara .

A weekend farmer and environmental hobbyist himself, Angara maintains a farm in Nasugbu, Batangas where he plants fruit-bearing trees.