Twenty Butuan branch staff participated in the planting of 25 mangrove tree seedlings in the coastal area of Municipality of Carmen, Agusan del Norte on May 29. This is part of Caraga area’s clean and green program.
The branch, along with their area manager Enrique Maca was educated by Francisco De Gamo on the importance of mangroves and how seedlings are planted. De Gamo has been the project chairman of the fish sanctuary for the last 10 years.
When the tides had lowered, each staff planted a seedling and marked each for future identification and monitoring. De Gamo imparted to the staff the need to build mangrove areas as these plants shelter fishes and protect coastal areas from the devastating winds of typhoons and storms. He reiterated the importance of the strict implementation of “No Fishing” in designated sanctuaries to help rebuild the marine wild life and ecosystem. To date, the Gosoon Fish Sanctuary has the most variety of marine life in the Caraga area and was recently visited by a group of Japanese divers and hailed the area as a future tourist destination.
According to area manager Enrique Maca, this activity was initiated by the branch staff and they are planning to do this twice this year to increase the number of mangroves planted and oversee their growth and preservation of the coastal area. “We are also planning to involve our clients, at least the ones near the area, in this kind of activity,” Maca added.
Mangrove tree planting is one of the activities which they plan to include as community service of clients prior to loan disbursements.
