LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – A mall donated 10,000 tree saplings to Benguet last week in line with the bid to re-green the province.

Gov. Nestor Fongwan and some of his staff members received the saplings, mostly pine and coffee, from SM Baguio.

SM City Baguio Mall Manager Janssen Pe joined SM Vice President for Operations North Region Bien Mateo and SM Regional Operations North Region Manager Cesar Bondoc in donating the saplings to the provincial officials.

Fongwan said the saplings will be a great help in the province’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

He added reforestation and preservation of the remaining green patches in the province is also one of the major thrusts of his administration and his successors.

The governor earlier expressed concern on the reported illegal logging activities in some parts of the province.

This, even as he surmised there seemed to be a problem within the local level in terms of actions from concerned agencies like the police and recording and the eventual filing of case against violators of Presidential Decree 705 or the country’s Forestry Reform Code.

The saplings were donated after the province, through a provincial board resolution, requested the mall giant to help in its pro-environment efforts.

SM earlier committed to donate 10,000 assorted seedlings each to five Benguet towns, in response to the provincial government’s request for coffee, fruit-bearing trees, and pine tree seedlings to Kabayan, Bokod, Sablan, Tuba, and Itogon.

In February this year, SM reported its employees already planted more than 25,000 tree saplings or over half of its target to plant 50,000 trees in Baguio and Benguet.

The announcement was made during the official launch of its “Green Road to 50,000” program, which kicked off at the start of the year.