Mr. President and dear colleagues:
We would like to congratulate Senator Cynthia Villar for sponsoring Senate Bill No. 2834 under Committee Report No. 330 or the Tree Planting Legacy of Graduates Act of 2024.
We are in the era of multi-trillion budgets, of which hundreds of billions are spent on flood control projects amounting to at least Php1.4 Billion a day for this year alone. Thus, we support initiatives that seek to mitigate floods, but would not cost us in the billions.
Hindi po magastos ang magtanim ng puno. In fact, the total budget of our Enhanced National Greening Program for 2024 is only Php1.2 billion. Since its implementation in 2011 up to 2023, more or less two billion seedlings have been planted.[1] Their importance in risk reduction cannot be emphasized enough – trees remove water from the catchment area, leading to reduced pressure on drainage systems in urban areas and a reduction in flood risk through the absorption of runoffs from roads and agricultural areas in rural areas.[2]
Apart from this, the tree planting activity inculcates in our youth the values of patriotism and environmental conservation, and encourages our youth to become more involved in public and civic affairs. Hindi lang ang pagiging maka-Kalikasan ang natututunan ng ating mga Kabataan – sila rin ay natututong maging Makabayan.
At the proper time, we hope to participate in the discussions of the measure.
Maraming salamat po and may God bless us all.
