The green advocacy of retired executives
By Eva C. Visperas
DON’T just plant trees. Nurture them.
This sentiment keeps ringing in my ears after my phone conversation with Mr. Celso Salazar, the former CENRO of the cities of Alaminos and Dagupan.
Though he has retired from government service, his love for the environment remains strong. He continues to engage in his green advocacy, particularly, as the president of Pangasinan Native Tree Enthusiasts Inc., a group composed of retired individuals and executives like him.
Despite being retired, they still possess a lot of energy for environmental causes. Mr. Celso retired in 2019 as CENRO chief in Dagupan.
Last Sunday, April 14, he posted on Facebook about his group’s recent activity at Daang Kalikasan in Mangatarem town, where they watered the plants they had planted months ago. Each member carried five to eight liters of water, walking through the planted native trees to water them.
It is unusual to see people who participated in tree planting activities return to water the plants they planted. Usually, after tree planting and photos taken for posting or remembrance, that was it.
Since 2021, they have been conducting tree planting in Daang Kalikasan and have planted about 5,000 native trees, sourcing seeds from different regions. Other than narra, they have ipil, katmon, arangin, batwan – names that are rarely heard.
They have their nursery in Daang Kalikasan, their arboretum of native trees in a piece of land awarded to them by the DENR. They have already planted some 100 species of different trees out of 3,600 native species in the Philippines, most of which came from different parts of the country.
They also donate seedlings to schools or barangays upon request, and conduct information dissemination, too, in schools for further education of the young.
On the national scene, they are part of the Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts with about 24,000 members.
It’s, indeed, a big sacrifice on their part to sustain their not-so-ordinary kind of devotion to trees. They used to water the plants twice a month but had to reduce frequency to once a month due to insufficient funds. They are hindered by scarcity of funds as they also provide meals for participants in their activities, among them students.
Some people provide small personal contributions for this noble cause whenever they see a Facebook post about their activities, and they are grateful for the gesture.
Then, there are some civic organizations, bato-bato sa langit ang tamaan wag magalit, who simply bring their tarpaulins, pose with Mr. Salazar’s group and claim the planting and watering activities as theirs. Mahiya naman kayo!
Time and again, Mr. Salazar’s group has been educating the people that tree planting is not simply about planting. It’s about tree-growing. Didiligan mo yan, babalik-balikan mo yan! Plants need to be nurtured with TLC—tender loving care.
DENR must allocate enough funds for the maintenance and protection of native trees.
Kudos to this group of native tree enthusiasts who go out of their way, even in their retirement age, to demonstrate the need to care for and protect the environment.
Sa mga mahilig pumutol ng puno, hinay-hinay lang po. Ang init-init na po ng paligid natin.
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