(Eagle News)–The House of Representatives has passed on third and final reading a bill that requires all graduating elementary, high school and college students to plant at least 10 trees each for them to graduate.
Before this can be implemented though, House Bill 8728 or the “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act”–which is a reconciled version of Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano’s bill and Cavite Rep. Strike Revilla’s HB 1154—should have a counterpart in the Senate that should also be passed on third and final reading.
Among these counterpart bills is Senate Bill No. 834 authored in 2016 by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is also linked to the Magdalo group, but this remains pending in the Upper Chamber.
Once passed into third and final reading, the differing provisions in both the final House and Senate bills should be reconciled in a bicameral conference committee, after which the reconciled version shall be transmitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for his approval.
In justifying the filing of HB 8728, Alejano said there was no reason for the youth not to contribute to a balanced and healthful ecology.
“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,” he said.
Revilla for his part noted in HB 1154 that the ecology was “suffering” with the “continued rise in urbanization.”
“…Our ecology is suffering in the sense that trees are being cut to give way for various infrastructure projects,” he said.
Under HB 8728, the trees shall be planted by the students in 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 bill tasks the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to work in partnership with the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, among others, for the tree-planting.
The agencies, the House bill said, shall be responsible for nursery establishment, seedling production and site preparation, monitoring and evaluation, and technical support and extension services. They must also provide security, transportation, fire protection amenities, and medical support.
“Even with a (tree) 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,” Alejano said.
There are already existing laws that mandate the planting of trees, but these appear to be not strictly enforced.
Republic Act No. 10176, or the Arbor Day Act of 2012, requires “all able-bodied citizens of the Philippines, who are at least 12 years of age” to plant one tree every year in coordination with local government units.
Presidential Decree No. 1153 of 1977, on the other hand, says “every citizen of the Philippines at least ten (10) years of age, actually residing therein, unless physically disabled to do so, shall plant one tree every month for five (5) consecutive years.”
