Bantay Kalikasan Volunteers plant 2,000 trees at the La Mesa Watershed
Four volunteers start to plant trees in La Mesa Watershed’s forest.
Two hundred and thirty – six volunteers planted a total of 2,000 trees during the first ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation-Bantay Kalikasan’s tree planting activity at the La Mesa Watershed.
Ricardo Santos, 70, one of the volunteers of the tree planting activity.
One of the volunteers who joined was Ricardo Santos, a 70 year old Rotarian from Commonwealth. He said that being a resident of Quezon City, he is one of those who will directly benefit from the trees they planted.
Santos said, “Bilang residents of Quezon City, we will be some of the direct beneficiaries nitong mga tinatanim naming puno.” (As residents of Quezon City, we will be some of the direct beneficiaries of the trees we planted. )
Santos explained that they would be the first to breathe fresh air generated by the trees. He also stated that preserving the watershed is vital to Metro Manila’s water supply.
The tree planting activity was organized as part of Bantay Kalikasan’s commitment to the Annual 1 Million Tree Challenge of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, in celebration of its 140th anniversary. The environmental arm of ALKFI committed to plant at least 140,000 this year.
According to Dave Azurin, the Project Operations Head of Save the La Mesa Watershed Project, the volunteers were able to occupy five hectares of the forest with indigenous species of trees. “Ang rekomendado ng mga expert, kailangan pa raw nating dagdagan iyong puno na naitanim natin, para maging high density iyong population ng trees sa watershed na ito.” (From the recommendations of the experts, we still need to plant more trees so the watershed will have high density of trees.)
Mae Medina, the Learning and Development Manager of ALKFI shared, “We are really happy and inspired to see people from different walks of life who want to volunteer – students, teachers, barangay workers, professionals, and parents with their young children.”
“The spirit of volunteerism is alive. People are looking for opportunities where they can learn new things and do service for the common good,” she added.
In 1999, Bantay Kalikasan took on the rehabilitation of the La Mesa Watershed together with MWSS, Maynilad, and Manila Water.
