ALAMINOS CITY – Some 17.072 hectares of the city’s coastline have been re-greened, thanks to the city government’s Mangrove Reforestation Program.

This feat has earned for the city the citation as the “Best Coastal LGU (Local Government Unit) in Mangrove Development Initiative” in the recent province-wide Search for Linis Dayat (Clean Sea).

Ernesto De Leon, city agriculturist, said the Mangrove Reforestation Program in the 10 coastal barangays was started in 1999 to address the alarming decline of denuded mangrove forests in the city.

An enhancement project was launched in 2004 by Mayor Hernani Braganza  as part of the city’s Coastal Resource Management Program and Eco-Tourism Thrust.

The latest award carried a P50,000 worth of projects prize from Governor Victor Agbayani whose Linis Dayat  program was incorporated in the annual celebration of Pista’y Dayat.

Alaminos was also adjudged last year as the best implementor of the provincial government’s Linis Dayat Program under the Coastal Resources Management Pioneering Cluster while Barangay Bued bagged the award for “Most Improved Barangay in Mangrove Reforestation Project.”

And with the help of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the communities, about 16.25 hectares of idle mountains had been reforested as well through the Adopt-A-Mountain Project.

De Leon said the city is expected to cover the remaining 7.52 saline wetlands by the end of 2007.

Braganza pointed out that maintaining ecological balance in the coastal barangays will benefit the fisherfolks in the long term since a hectare of mangrove forests is equivalent to one ton of new marine products a year at the city’s coastal waters.

The mangrove areas will also be transformed into an eco-tourism site where tourists enjoy bird-watching, plant a mangrove tree as a therapeutic activity, collect fish and shellfish and take photos at the protected park overlooking picturesque Hundred Islands National Park. — EVA

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