The Action for Regreening and Transformation (ART) program has exceeded its goal of one million by planting 1.6 million trees in 2012.
The ART is a major pro-environment program of the Iloilo administration that intends to plant one million trees per year in the mountainous areas of the province including mangrove seedlings in the coastal areas.
Iloilo Provincial Administrator Raul Banias said through the program, which was launched last year, a total of 1.3 million trees were planted in all five districts of the province.
Municipal and Barangay officials, non-government organizations, private and government agencies participated in the tree planting activity led by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor, Sr.
The barangay health workers took charge of the monitoring of the survival rate of the trees planted. In 2011, the seedlings planted had a survival rate of nearly 70 percent. (Source: PNA)
