VOLUNTEERS planted about 1,000 seedlings of trees at the Talomo-Lipadas watershed area in Barangay Bayabas, Toril District yesterday as part of the commemoration of the International Earth Day yesterday.
The seedlings were planted in the four-hectare watershed  adopted by the Eden Nature Park Resort. Supporting the event was the Mountaineering Federation of Southern Mindanao.
The watershed is one of the citys main sources of potable water supply.
Tina D. Huab, marketing manager of Eden Nature Park Resort, said that one of the main concerns of the parks owner, industrialist Jesus V. Ayala, is to preserve the city’s water sources.
“This (tree planting) activity was just recently been launched, but we have already adopted a portion of the watershed a long time ago. We usually advocate for information drive on proper waste disposal and management and recycling,” she said.

Engr. Albert Gabriel, current president of the mountaineering federation, said that one of the groups goal is to plant one million trees. In the past years, we already planted 750,000 trees. We are getting the rest of 250,000 trees to be planted, he ssaid.
The federation was organized in 2002 and is composed of 35 mountaineering clubs in Region XI as well as in Surigao and Sarangani provinces.
Meanwhile, in a separate activity, 118 torches were lit up around the Freedom Park in a tribute to the nations 118 ethnolinguistic tribes who served as the guardians and stewards of the Earth.
A six-foot tall billboard that enumerates the 10 major fighting calls for environmental defense was unveiled that would serve as a symbolic action for unity in advancing stronger environmental protection.

Diolito Diarog, coordinator of Katribu in this city, said that this environmental agenda highlights their calls to reclaim their environmental rights, human rights amidst the worsening ruin and exploitation of the environment.
This is our statement against development aggression which has spawned tragedies after tragedies, deprived us of the fruits of our land, and caused the wanton landlessness and poverty that majority of lumads and poor Filipinos are suffering from, he added.
As a symbolic affirmation of their commitment to protect Mother Earth, lumad leaders and environmental advocates signed and marked their handprints on the billboard.
The agenda primarily calls for the stop of large-scale corporate mining , energy, logging and other destructive projects which shall be pursued by Katribu and its support groups in the local and national policy-making venues.  The billboard shall be transferred from different schools in Davao Region as part of Katribus advocacy and education campaigns.

Source: http://www.mindanaotimes.net/?p=7989