ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 26, 2012) – In silence he watched a fellow scout dug the rain-soaked soil with a small bolo and slowly placed the acacia mangium seedling in the hole as he intently listens to the short lecture from a forestry specialist of a mining company who supervises the ceremonial tree planting held over the weekend at the school ground of Vitali Elementary School in Zamboanga City.
Grade four pupil Zydrich Panopio, when asked what was his thought on the activity, shyly said in the local Chavacano dialect: “importante este kay el maga pono usable kanaton (This is important because trees are useful to us).”
“Trees give us wood to build houses after years we plant it,” he explained.
Another scouter, grade six pupil Anjude Francisco thought of trees as protection against floods and landslides.
“They give us protection by preventing floods and landslides. That is why we need to plant trees,” he said.
Zydrich and Anjude were among 50 boy scouts of the school who participated to the two-day Boy Scouts of the Philippines Leadership Course Training held here.
Teacher Ronaldo Condeno, Vitali district BSP coordinator, told the scouters during the brief orientation on proper planting of seedlings that “planting trees is part of BSP’s motto to create a better world.”
“One way for us to create a better world is to plant trees now,” he urged the scouters who lined up in semi-circle to listen to the orientation.
“Personnel from Atro Mining were with us to orient us on the proper handling and planting of seedlings,” he added.
Two Atro Mining personnel – Forestry Specialist Agustin Tamsi and Community Relations Officer Francis Malones – donated some 200 seedlings to Vitali Elementary School as part of its social development program and commitment to environmental integrity.
Earlier, the school principal requested from the company some 200 acacia mangium seedlings for the tree planting activity.
In her letter, school principal Evangeline Araneta said they requested for the seedlings since they knew of the company’s “genuine generosity to good cause such as this.”
The company’s forestry specialist told the scout coordinator that “we are looking forward to more joint activities with the school especially on issues concerning environmental protection.”
Atro Mining-Vitali, Inc., an iron ore mining company, is still in its exploration stage. It has a Mines Operating Agreement with Hard Rock Mineral Trading, Inc. which grants exclusive rights to conduct mining operations within the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area.
The MPSA area has a total area of 2,077 hectares located at Upper Tagpangi village in Vitali. The five satellite areas under the MPSA are Campo Uno, Veronica, Campo Cuatro, Limbong and Aboles. (Antonio Manaytay)
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