The lack of a “formal rehabilitation” more than two decades after a major mining tragedy hit Marinduque province has prompted the office of Vice Governor Bacorro and the Ecological Justice League of Youth Leaders on the island to make environmental protection a priority program.
They have actually been doing so through various activities like planting trees on National Greening Program (NGP) sites of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) Marinduque, collecting discarded food wrappers, campaign on no to single-use plastics, and the like.
But more recently, Vice Governor Bacorro, EJL MiMaRoPa together with PENRO Marinduque, Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity and Sorority, and the Youth of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente has encouraged students, youth leaders, environmental advocates, government employees, cyclists, riders, and non-government organizations to join the island community.
They just finished a tree planting activity as part of the recently launched environmental advocacy dubbed as “Project Bayani Ng Kalikasan at the Luzon Datum Geodetic Center of 1911 located at Mogpog, Marinduque. They planted 500 Narra (Pterocarpus indicus ) seedlings, dubbed as the national tree of the Philippines, a leguminous plant that is capable of fixing nitrogen by forming endosymbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria that lives in its root nodules.
“What we want is to convert each and every Marinduqueños to become [a green] advocate,” said Dr. Jun Bacorro, Vice Governor of the Province of Marinduque, “the environment is the most powerful venue, a breeding ground to create a riffling effect” he added. Bacorro said the environment topped his office advocacies, followed by youth and women empowerment, health, and community development.
Project Bayani Ng Kalikasan gained support from the top leaders of the country from the Senate, the House of Representatives down to the League of Vice Governors of the Philippines, Mayors, Environmental Youth Groups, Environmental Rights Defenders, and from the international communities.
