The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has committed to planting 1,000 seedlings of trees for every P5 million worth of flood control projects nationwide.
DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan this is compliance with the mandatory Tree Replacement Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.’s instruction to address countrywide deforestation.
In the Department Order (DO) No. 238, series of 2022 of DPWH, Bonoan said “all public works offices mandating implementing offices nationwide to plant 1,000 seedling/trees for every flood-control project with at least P5 million contract amount, and additional 1,000 seedlings/trees for every added P5 million in the contract, or fraction thereafter.”
Expenses for the planting activity will be inserted in the preparation of the Program of Works (POW) for every flood-control project, according to Bonoan.
“Specific locations for the tree planting activities will be identified in coordination with local government units and the DENR Community or Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office concerned,” Bonoan furthered.
Meanwhile, with the classification of tree species, the concerned implementing offices will confer with the DENR, according to Bonoan.
Bonoan noted that based on existing laws, tree planting activities need to implement in open, degraded, and denuded forestlands; protected areas and mangroves; ancestral domain lands, and civil and military reservations, among others.