Former junkies help students plant trees in Pinamungajan

DRUG surrenderers recently joined elementary school students in planting some 3,500 tree seedlings in the mountain village of Duangan, Pinamungajan.

Seedlings of panglomboien, star apple and jackfruit were planted in the village.

Teachers, parents and other volunteers also accompanied the students in the activity.

Solid Earth Development Corp. (SEDC) employees organized the tree-planting activity and provided the seedlings. Some of the volunteers included Duangan officials headed by Barangay Captain Annette Navarro, youth leaders of the community, Pinamungajan police officers and employees of trucking provider LNC Ventures.

This was the second tree-planting activity in Duangan. Sometime in November 2017, Duangan students and their families also planted 3,500 seedlings with their counterparts from Guimbawian Elementary School, according to lead organizer Joel A. Sombelon, an engineer.

SEDC organized the activity in the area as part of its preparations for its eventual operations of some quarries in the area. The company provides raw materials for cement manufacturing of Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. (TCPI).

SEDC has also implemented medical missions for local residents since 2013, according to Sombelon, who is also the company’s mine environmental protection and enhancement officer.

In the past 10 years, SEDC has planted with TCPI more than 65,000 trees in Duangan’s adjacent barangays Bugho, Cabatbatan and Magsico in San Fernando, where it has been operating quarries and rehabilitating mined-out sites.