FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
MANILA, Philippines —The militant fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) expressed doubt about President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s tree planting plan to address floods.
Instead, Pamalakaya urged the Marcos administration to pursue mangrove reforestation.
“In the 1920s, mangrove forests used to cover almost 450,000 hectares. But two years after the [Presidential Decree] 704 was enacted, mangrove forests drastically shrunk to 220,243 hectares due to the rapid conversion of coastal areas into fishponds owned by big fishing and exporting firms,” Ronnel Arambulo, Pamalakaya national spokesperson, said in a statement.
“Unless Marcos Jr. recognizes that it was during his late dictator father’s term when vast tracts of mangroves and forest covers were wiped out, his statement for tree planning is nothing but pure lip service,” he added.
The president recently proposed incorporating tree planting in the government’s flood control projects.
Pamalakaya stressed the importance of mangroves to the environment.
“The destruction of mangrove forests exposes fishing families to damaging floods and storm surges up to date. Mangroves are vital to marine ecosystems and biodiversity as they serve as fish sanctuaries, pollution filters, and defense for coastal communities,” Arambulo said.
The group likewise emphasized to Marcos that tree-planting alone is insufficient to fix the county’s environmental problems.
“Environmental protection is more than just tree planting and recognizing the climate crisis; it is taking concrete steps to protect our natural resources against destructive and profit-driven activities such as reclamation and land-use conversion.
“For starters, the Marcos administration can openly reject reclamation projects in Manila Bay and instead restore its mangrove forests and seagrasses that were cleared for reclamation and conversion over the years,” Arambulo said. — Kristelle Anne Razon, trainee
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