Coops, MinDA to plant more trees

Following the devastating flashfloods that swept through Mindanao this week brought about by typhoon “Pablo,” at least 6,000 trees would be planted all over Mindanao by the Mindanao Alliance of Self-Help Societies-Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Center (MASS-SPECC) Cooperative Development Center on Monday.
The move hopes to curb future incidence of flash floods and landslides and to raise the awareness on Mindanao Nurturing Our Waters (MindanaNOW) program of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).
“We have been planting trees before. But now we thought of tying up with MinDA under its MindaNOW program, in order to align our efforts with the national government’s thrust on the National Greening Program (NGP),” Bernadette Toledo, MASS-SPECC chief executive officer, said.
MASS-SPECC is a group of 300 primary cooperatives all over Mindanao, holding at least P11 billion assets with more than 1.5 million individual members and has recently pledged support for MindaNOW, which consolidates all efforts for the development and management of the island-region’s watersheds and river basins.
While the primary role of a cooperative is to eradicate poverty, MASS-SPECC has embarked into a program called “Co-ops Love Green Earth” since flash floods and landslides have become serious threats not just to Mindanao’s economy but most especially for the lives of its people.
“We’ve learned our lessons—from Typhoon Sendong to Pablo—we at MASS-SPECC see the need for a long-term solution to these problems,” said Toledo, adding that the Mindanao people must restore its environment if it wants to be spared from natural calamities.
She said many of their members were also victims of Typhoons Sendong and Pablo.
“A MASS-SPECC member-cooperative in Davao del Norte with 1,000 hectare of banana plantation was badly hit by Typhoon Pablo”, Toledo said, adding that more than 80 percent of the said plantation was gone to waste.
While they hope to contribute to making the country achieve its millennium development goals on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, Toledo said the cooperative principles had also expanded to ensuring environmental sustainability.
She pointed out that cooperatives were mandated to allot a maximum of 10 percent of their net surplus for community development fund, which includes allocation for green projects. (PNA)