Manila — In a remarkable move, Philippines Government passed a new bill in June that aims at making the students to plant at least 10 trees as a prerequisite for graduation, according to the country’s “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act”.
According to a report by Bright Vibes, the House Bill 8278 states that every single student graduating from elementary school, high school and college should plant minimum 10 trees in any of the following areas—forest lands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of the local government units, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands.
The bill is authored by MAGDALO Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano and Cavite 2nd District Representative Strike Revilla.
“With over 12 million students graduating from elementary and nearly five million students graduating from high school and almost 500,000 graduating from college each year, this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year. In the course of one generation, no less than 525 billion can be planted under this initiative,” Alejano explained in the bill’s explanatory note.
