03/07/2021
RISE-UP Sierra Madre : A Massive Tree-Planting Kick-Off Project for Rotary Year 2021-2022 Headed by Rotary District Governor of 3820- Angelita “Angie” Sunio in cooperation with UPLQ Land Grant
District 3820 of The Rotary International (RI) composed of 135 Rotary Clubs headed by District Governor (DG) Angelita “Angie” Sunio; started the Rotary Year 2021-2022 with a district-wide tree planting activity in coordination with University of the Philippines Laguna Quezon Land Grant (UPLQ Land Grant) headed by Mr. Reynaldo Lorida.
The main Kick-Off event happened on July 1, 2021 at the 6,500 hectare- UPLQ Land Grant, Barangay Magsaysay, Siniloan, Laguna on the southern edge of The Sierra Madre Mountain Range. This is in line with one of RI’s Seven Areas of Focus of Supporting the Environment.
The Kick-Off Chairman Garry Hidalgo and Legacy Chairman PP Jeremie Lo; in the presence of the District Officers, promptly started the event at 4:00 AM and lasted until 6:00 PM. To comply with guidelines for COVID-19 the Rotary Clubs were divided into 5 batches with each club having only a limited participant of five (5) Rotarians to abide by the IATF ruling on Mass Gatherings. Furthermore, the District also spread the dates of the event until July 3, 2021 as other Rotary Clubs conducted their own Tree-Planting activities within their respective communities. Such as Rotary Club of Batangas headed by Rowena “Weng” Gonzales who together with JG Summit Petrochemicals pledged to plant 1 million trees together with other clubs to help gain a negative carbon-footprint for the District.
Prior to the Kick-Off Event all the Rotary Clubs(RC) submitted their club’s “Carbon Footprint” and this was headed by Environmental Protection Chairman PP Armando “Deo” Alcantara under Community Service Committee Chairman PP Arnold Mendoza. PP Ron Dancalan summarized that each Rotarian in RI District 3820 has a yearly Carbon Footprint of 3.02 tons and need to plant an average of 147 trees which will result in the goal of Zero Net Carbon Footprint for District 3820. Each Rotarian in District 3820 is also committed to lowering their carbon footprint to Support the Environment.
The massive tree planting activity was hosted by the Rotary Clubs of Los Baños, Los Baños- Makiling, Bay and West-Bay.
The successful event was well-coordinated and orderly thanks to the unwavering dedication of its District Officers such as District Secretary (DS)Filipinas “Pia” Marquez, Assistant Governor of Area 1 Group 6 PP Yasmin “Chi” Andal (where the 4 host Clubs belong) as Main Coordinator between District 3820 and UPLQ Land Grant and finally District Secretary for Legacy Projects PP Carmela Acebedo.
We also applaud and recognize the presence of PDG Dennis Sunio (incumbent District Executive Secretary) and PDG Darwin Igualada.
