3,000 tree seedlings planted at watershed of new Ecija dam

GEN. TINIO, Nueva Ecija — As many as 3,000 narra and mahogany seedlings were planted in the watershed of a newly built dam by the local government and employees of the National Irrigation Administration’s Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System on Friday (June 14).

The watershed project would sustain the Upper Tabuating Irrigation Project (UTIP) which is designed to irrigate 800 to 1,000 hectares of farms, said Jose Ariel Domingo, manager of the NIA-UPRIIS Division III.

Domingo was joined by incumbent Mayor Melvin Pascual and Mayor-elect Isidro Pajarillaga.

The P440-million UTIP would be commissioned within the year and would serve 350 farmers operating in the villages of Nazareth, Bago, and Rio Chico.

Pajarillaga also launched the town’s regreening program called “Three Million Trees in Three Years,” which intends to reforest the Sierra Madre mountains.

He said the regreening plan would help rescucitate the Sumacbao River, the Rio Chico River, and the Tabuating River, which have started to dry up. Armand Galang (Editor: Leti Boniol)