by Rex Godinez Ortega
Chancellor Tanggol tags a tree with Ms. Romania Crina Stinea and Ms. China Taipei Joanne Peng
Chancellor Sukarno D. Tanggol joined candidates of the Ms Earth 2016 in a ceremonial naming/tagging of trees at the Buhanginan Hills on Wednesday morning (October 19) as part of a program organized by the city government of Iligan.
Tanggol gave a message at the early morning affair that was attended by Local Government and City Tourism officials, and 10 Ms Earth candidates representing the countries of Chinese Taipei, Iraq, Denmark, Romania, Zimbabwe, Chile, Pakistan, Belize, England, and Hungary.
The Chancellor later joined Ms Chinese Taipei, Joanne Peng, and Ms Romania, Crina Stinea, in tagging a Broad-Leaved Mahogany tree.
Tanggol said that the activity, in a way, served as an indictment of society for no longer caring for growing things.
“We are now reduced to putting name tags on trees normally found in the Philippines because we do not know their names anymore,” the Chancellor said in an interview.
However, the Chancellor added that the ceremonial tagging program was also very important because it would help people, especially the younger generation, identify Philippine trees that are no longer very common these days.
The naming of trees activity at Buhanginan Hills is part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the city government of Iligan and MSU-IIT, where the latter is expected to provide the technical expertise in identifying and naming the trees.
It occurs under the much bigger TAOID Program of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts where communities are assisted in identifying, protecting, and managing local heritage.
Prof. Edgardo Aranico of the Department of Biological Sciences and IIT’s point person for the activity said that some of the 14 trees involved in the ceremonial tagging were Ilang-Ilang, Molave, Rainbow Eucalyptus, Ne-em, and Mahogany.
Aranico said that the ceremonial tagging consisted of putting information about the trees, like their scientific names, common names, and common use.
Topics : tree planting Ms Earth eco naming tagging trees Buhanginan Hills