The House of Representatives passed on third and final reading a bill requiring all graduating elementary, high school, and college students to plant trees before they receive their diplomas.
House Bill (HB) 8728, or the “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act,” mandates all graduating students to plant at least 10 trees each as a prerequisite for graduation. The bill is principally authored by MAGDALO Party-list Representative Gary Alejano and Cavite 2nd District Representative Strike Revilla.
“With over 12 million students graduating from elementary and nearly five million students graduating from high school and almost 500,000 graduating from college each year, this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year. In the course of one generation, no less than 525 billion can be planted under this initiative,” Alejano explained in the explanatory note of HB 1154, one of the bills consolidated into HB 8728.
“Even with a survival rate of only 10 percent, this would mean an additional 525 million trees would be available for the youth to enjoy when they assume the mantle of leadership in the future,” he added.
Under the bill, the graduating students shall plant trees, which will serve as their “living legacy to the environment and to future generations of Filipinos,” in the following areas: forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of the local government units, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands.
The species of trees to be planted should also be appropriate to the location, climate and topography of the area with preference for the planting of indigenous species.
The bill also mandates the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to work with the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), among others, to implement the provisions of the measure.
These agencies, the bill said, are responsible for nursery establishment, seedling production and site preparation, site identification, monitoring and evaluation, provision of security, transportation, fire protection amenities and medical support, and technical support and extension services.
“It is the policy of the State to pursue programs and projects that promote environmental protection, biodiversity, climate change mitigation, poverty reduction, and food security,” the bill read.
“To this end, the educational system shall be a locus for propagating ethical and sustainable use of natural resources among the young to ensure the cultivation of a socially-responsible and conscious citizenry,” it added.