Citicore employees plant 300 trees in Sierra Madre

GREEN MOVEMENT — Employees of the Citicore together with Megawide Foundation and Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR-CENRO) Baliuag, Bulacan are all smiles after planting some 300 guyabano seedlings at the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Barangay Kalawakn, Dona Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan on Friday. CITICORE PHOTO

WITH grateful hearts to the protection the Sierra Madre Mountain range continuously provides against typhoons, Citicore Power employees gathered in Dona Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan and planted on Friday, October 14, at least 300 fruit-bearing tree seedlings.

They were joined by volunteers from Megawide Foundation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Office – Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (DENR-CENRO). Together, they planted Guyabano seedlings that covered approximately 2,500 square meters of land area in Sitio Talamsi I. 

“This is a very good initiative to support the preservation of Sierra Madre as a protected area,” National Greening Program (NGP) Focal Person Jericho Vicente of DENR-CENRO said.

The Sierra Madre Mountain Range, which spans Metro Manila and the provinces of Cagayan, Bulacan, Isabela, Nueva, Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Quirino, Aurora, Quezon, Rizal, and Laguna, helps stabilize water flow, prevents typhoon-related calamities, and slows down and takes the impact of incoming Typhoons.

But the onslaught of Super Typhoon Karding two weeks ago has also caused severe damages in the forests of the Sierra Madre Mountain range.

Participants of the one-day tree planting activity leave legacies behind for Sierra Madre

According to Vicente, communities residing in the mountain range were affected, while hundreds of trees were also uprooted. 

“As stewards of the environment, it is only right that we do our share and help with climate change mitigation,” Vicente said.

“Kaya  nagpapasalamat  po kami  sa  Citicore  sa  pakikiisa  sa  National Greening Program ng DENR. We hope many private companies will follow suit,” he added. 

Lalaine Rosales, Human Resource Sr. Manager of Citicore, underscored that the activity is aligned with  Citicore’s  value of  Environmental  stewardship. 

“It’s somehow fulfilling na nakatulong kami with the environment. One way is to plant trees here sa Sierra Madre,” said Rosales.

Vicente also said that one of the targets of the activity is poverty reduction.

“Ang tinanim po natin kanina are guyabano seedlings, and kapag ito’y nabuhay at namunga, maaring source of income ito ng community dito sa Sitio TalamsiI,” he added.

According to the data of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, the Sierra Madre covers 1,417,472.81 hectares of land area.

Aside from the tree planting activity in Sierra Madre Mountain range, Citicore also conducts CommuniTree activities in its host communities particularly those prone to flooding like Brgy Talavera, in Toledo, Cebu.