Manila Bulletin, Philippines : House OKs Billion Trees Act

08/05/2003

House OKs Billion Trees Act

To arrest the denudation of the country's remaining forestlands and mount an aggressive reforestation campaign nationwide, the House of Representatives has approved on second reading the proposed Billion Trees Act of 2003, Speaker Jose de Venecia announced yesterday.

"We plant trees or we die," said De Venecia, principal author of House Bill No. 5812, that aims to spur the planting of trees through complementary programs of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and various government agencies, local government units, schools and universities, and civic and nongovernmental organizations.

De Venecia said the measure is a dramatic step to generate rural employment and raise rural income, rehabilitate wildlife habitat through adequate forest protection, reverse soil erosion and the siltation of rivers and dams that cause flash floods, and increase reforestation efforts in upland, lowland, and coastal communities.

De Venecia also said he has introduced innovations that promote forest diversity by planting endemic species, make available forest and fruit tree seedlings to more local government units, and ensure an adequate supply of forest and agricultural products.

The Billion Trees Act also seeks to establish miniforest parks in towns, cities and subdivisions, and educational and technical assistance to various agencies and branches of the government.

The House leader, who has pushed for an aggressive reforestation program for years, said a similar bill failed to gain approval in the Senate after being passed by the House in the past.

"This time, we re-filed it with certain innovations to meet the needs of the times," he said.

The House committee on natural resources chaired by Leyte Rep. Eduardo Veloso (Leyte) sponsored and defended HB 5812, a consolidated version of HB Nos. 186, 674, 724, 885, 932, and 2358 separately filed by the Speaker and Reps. Oscar Rodriguez, Cynthia Villar, Bellaflor Angara, Castillo, Roseller Barinaga, and Manuel "Way Kurat" Zamora, respectively.

Veloso said the bill's authors intended to address the degradation of the country's forestlands due to deforestation which has gone on for years "at a very alarming rate." About 130,000 hectares of the country's forestlands are destroyed annually, according to data from d 1989 to 1995.

De Venecia lauded Veloso and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, chairman of the House committee on rules, which guided the bill's plenary consideration.

House agriculture committee chairman Alfredo Marañon, meanwhile, urged the Senate to hasten passage of the measure to complement President Arroyo's food security program and government efforts to protect the environment and fight soil erosion and river siltation.

He said De Venecia's Billion Trees Act will boost agricultural productivity under the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) and promote environmental preservation even in urban places.

Marañon is the principal author the bill earlier passed by the House of Representatives, extending the life of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) by five years. "Social and political reforms without food security for our people are meaningless," he said.

Veloso said that in addition to theDENR funds for reforestation, the program shall be financed by available Official Development Assistance (ODA); private sector investment in reforestation and tree plantation projects; joint venture operations between the forest resource agencies of the Philippines and an assisting country; funding schemes under the BuildOperate-Transfer (BOT) Llaw; direct project investment by local government units and private corporations; and securitization of grown trees which may be treated as asset backed securities or bonds to finance reforestation of denuded areas.