Good...but

Good…

THE GREEN City of San Fernando.

Towards that end, Mayor Edwin Santiago accomplished planting a total of 12,021 fruit-bearing trees, i.e. saplings or seedlings – exceeding his target of 10,000 for his first 100 days in office. 

EdSa’s tree-planting activity started in July, soon as he took hizzoner’s chair, in every barangay, at the FVR Megadike, along riverbanks, in open spaces “even reaching up to Bamban, Tarlac.” Hopefully, the Bamban mayor did not take this as some sort of political, er, environmental encroachment.

“Ipinagmamalaki nating nakamit at nalampasan pa ang mithiin natin sa loob ng aking unang isang daang araw. Ang susunod na hakbang natin ay ang pagsiguro na tutubo ng maayos ang ating mga itinanim, (We are proud of having achieved, even surpassed our objective for our first 100 days (in office). Our next step is to assure that what qwe have planted shall grow),” said EdSa in his report.

THE GREENER City of Angeles.

Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan – did not have 10,000 trees planned to be planted in his first 100 days. He had a much maxed-up target of one million trees in three full terms, starting with his assumption of the mayorship in July 2010.

Towards that end, EdPam established the Task Force 1 Million Trees (TF-1MT) entrusting its stewardship to Bishop Jose Briones. And hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of tree seedlings and saplings, as well as bamboo propagules, have been planted around the city since then.

Last week, EdPam signed a MOA with the Sibul ning Aeta Foundation, Inc. and Converge ICT Solutions, Inc (CICTS) “for the protection, conservation and development of the Sapangbato watershed.”

Per monitoring of TF-1MT, it was reported, the said watershed’s underground reservoir would be depleted in 10 to 15 years. Thus the need for its protection and conservation, already made critical with the rationing of water in its eponymous barangay. .

“…a manifestation of our steadfast dedication for the development of our city through our partnership with several non-government agencies and businesses. In turn, such projects also fulfil their respective corporate social responsibilities.” EdPam said of the MOA.

To ensure the sustainability of the watershed, a tree-planting program initiated by CICTS was undertaken right at the MOA signing rites. .
“Technology is moving fast, but this is not a reason for us to forget our environment. Our world is changing, and this is a wake-up call for us to plant more trees on every available lot there is.” So declared Dennis Anthony Uy, chairman of premier high-tech CICTS.

For her part, Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting lauded Sibul and CICTS for  “their initiative and interest in planting more trees that would help preserve our watershed.”

Also launched at the MOA signing was an “adopt-a-tree” scheme “to encourage citizens and other public and private groups to help in the development of the watershed.”

Tree planting. Very good.

Watershed preservation. Even better.

...But

GOOD THAT EdSa took out – at least in public pronouncements – a growth-guarantee for the saplings/seedlings planted. Something the preceding administration had the least care for in its urban re-greening program. Remember that massive tree-planting activity along MacArthur Highway in some sort of justification, rather than recompense, for the massacre of the trees there?  

After all that hype, what is left of those thousands reported planted were but a few clusters of banaba in front of the DPWH and a handful in Quebiawan.

Planting trees and guaranteeing their growth to maturity though still fall short of even just laying the groundwork for a Green City of San Fernando.

Preserving the mature trees – those that remained along MacArthur Highway not excluded – is the greater task for EdSa, given that the city government has not made any turn-around in its express intent to cut down all trees to pave the way for the widening of the Manila North Road.

You just cannot plant all the trees you want, only to cut all the mature trees around. That ain’t greening. The benefits – in carbon processing and oxygen generation – from a single mature tree cannot be compensated by even a thousand newly planted saplings. 

For EdPam, even a taller order.

Tree planting – and growing – is not all there is to watershed preservation.  

The Sapangbato watershed is but an adjunct of the larger Clark watershed, the wellspring of the potable water of Angeles and Mabalacat, in clear and present danger of depletion way ahead of the 10-to-15-year timeline.

No less than Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David has raised the alarm: “The water crisis is going to be a big issue in Pampanga in the next decade. Just count years here and we really cannot get water (from the aquifers)…this is going to be a serious crisis for Pampanga, unlike other provinces which have lakes (to draw water from).”

The presence of at least four golf courses and a water theme park – another having broken ground recently – in Clark, and a waterboarding facility in nearby Barangay Margot has been fingered by environmentalists as “threats to the watershed” and therefore, “extremely perilous to the people.”

Even as EdPam lambasted the Deca Clark Wakeboard Park and announced that he would have it investigated, a number of city councilors are reported to be  frequent visitors as “wakeboarding enthusiasts” at the facility.

So where’s the probe?

And then, EdPam himself was among the honored guests at the inauguration last October 5 of the water theme park of Clark Valley View Leisure and Resort under the BB International Leisure and Resort Development Corp.

Is it just me? Or some inconsistency, if not discrepancy, do obtain here?