Greening program eyes rehab of Mindanao typhoon-ravaged areas

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Upland areas in Mindanao that were laid to waste by Typhoon “Pablo” will be rehabilitated under the National Greening Program of the government, officials said on Saturday.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje directed the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Davao City to prioritize typhoon-ravaged areas in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental in the reforestation effort.

DENR-Region 11 Executive Director Joselin Marcus E. Fragada said his office earmarked a social mobilization fund of almost P35 million to plant seedlings in some 4,372 hectares of land in Compostela Valley and another 4,291 hectares in Davao Oriental.

In December the two provinces bore the brunt of the wrath of Pablo, a supertyphoon that left more than a thousand people dead and scores more missing, and destroyed billions of pesos worth of crops and infrastructure.

The storm, packing peak winds of over 200 kilometers per hour, uprooted coconut trees, dislodged boulders from the mountain slopes, and flattened vast banana plantations.

In a statement Fragada said the rehabilitation of the areas would be conducted using a cash-for-work scheme funded by the department.

“Through the Cash-for-Work Scheme, members of people’s organizations and barangay residents will be hired for a continuous period of 90 days for site preparation, hauling of seedlings and the actual tree planting,” he said.

The workers will be paid with money from the social mobilization fund of NGP following the minimum wage law, at about P 301 per day, Fragada said.

About 7,533 hectares of tree plantations in Mindanao that were planted from 2009-2012 under the Upland Development Program and NGP suffered damage when Pablo struck.