Leyte mayor pushes bamboo production for enterprise, environment protection
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TACLOBAN CITY — A Leyte mayor is encouraging town executives to make bamboo planting a flagship program to protect the environment and give jobs to people.
Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla, president of the League of Municipalities-Leyte, said mayors should identify an area where they could plant bamboos.
“We are planning for the mayors to come up with their own bamboo farm or park. Planting bamboo will not only be good for our environment but for livelihood purposes as well,” she said on Wednesday, Nov. 16, during the Bamboo Summit in Palo
Petilla said the giant and iron varieties of the bamboo are good for Leyte and Eastern Visayas, which are often hit by typhoons.
“Bamboos are better than coconut trees. [They] are pliant and would bend with the wind,” she said.
In 2013, Palo was among the hardest hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) that killed at least 2,200 people.
About 400 dead were buried in a mass grave outside the Palo Cathedral.
Aside from combatting the impacts of climate change, Petilla said bamboos could also be made into furniture, while its leaves could be used as tea.
“Bamboo thrives well in Leyte. We will plant them in areas with slopes and near waterways. After a few years, we can process the bamboo into anything we want,” Petilla said.
Palo envisions “a green growth, a socio-economic development platform to take the big leap and foster the social and economic benefits of bamboo for a sustainable future and inclusive growth,” the mayor said.
There is a huge demand for bamboo, but this could not be met due to insufficient supply, Petilla said.
Featured during the exhibit were bamboo domes, furniture, musical instruments, toiletries, tea, surfboards and planting materials.
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