TANAUAN CITY, Batangas, Sept. 8 (PNA) – “A simple but worthy initiative” was the gist of Mayor Thony Halili’s speech as he led the grand launch of Tanauan City Ordinance No. 2014-17 otherwise known as “A Tree for Every Newborn Baby of 2014” held Monday at the Tanauan Gymnasium 2 in this city.
Authored by City Councilor Joseph Castillo, this ‘one of a kind’ ordinance in the country is the city’s answer to the call for national greening program institutionalized under Executive Order No. 26 signed by President Benigno S. Aquino III on February 24, 2011.
With the aim of instilling into the consciousness of every Tanaueño family the importance of planting trees in order to sustain an environment-friendly community, the ordinance will require all parents registering their newborn child to plant a tree before a certificate of live birth can be issued by the local civil registrar.
Citing the massive devastation to the city’s vegetation due to Typhoon “Glenda” and the ‘cocolisap’ pests, Mayor Halili stressed “there’s need for a more serious and concerted effort to mitigate the ill effects of climate change like this notable program.”
He also mentioned his administration’s other environment-friendly initiatives, e.g. activation of the “Task Force Kalinisan” which will monitor and strictly enforce the city’s environmental regulations, establishment of a material recovery facility, implementation of “segregation-at-source” of household wastes, the “20-meter easement rule” along the Taal Lake shore, and the banning of fish cages within the city’s waters.
The event, heralded by a tree-planting activity of city hall employees, was graced by Miss Philippines-Air titlist and Tanauan City native Diane Carmela Querrer and DENR-Batangas Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) Mr. Jose Elmer Bascos. (PNA)