BALANGA CITY—Villagers and students here are continuously educated on the importance of mangrove reforestation in the environment that eventually encourage them to actively join in the greening of Bataan coastal areas.           

Susan Capuli, auditor and coordinator of Sagip Lingap Yamang Dagat (Salba), said that officers of their group regularly visit coastal barangays here to educate villagers on mangrove reforestation.

She said they have already conducted an information campaign in the coastal villages of Limay town. A group of small fisherfolks, assisted by Salba, has a mangrove-reforestation project in this town.

In fact, Capuli disclosed, the mangrove reforestation project in Limay gets regular financial aid from Petron Corp. as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility. Petron has a refinery in Limay.

She said their group also informs barangay residents of their experiences, activities and status of their mangrove-reforestation projects. The group has already reforested with mangroves 45 hectares along coastal areas in the towns of Orani, Orion and Limay, and also operates mangrove nurseries.

The education campaign on mangrove reforestation is also regularly conducted to university and college students here.

Butch Baluyot, officer in charge of the Project Management Office (PMO) at the capitol, said the provincial government Environment and Natural Resources Office (PG-ENRO) and his office have tied up with the university and colleges here to include in the National Service Training Program (NSTP) the education campaign on environmental protection and conservation.

NSTP, a law enacted in 2002, aims to enhance civic consciousness and defense preparedness of the college students by developing the ethics of service and patriotism. The program is normally conducted on Saturdays.

Baluyot said college students here as part of NSTP are educated to protect and preserve the environment by their personnel. He also said the students are regularly informed and updated on the province’s environmental program, particularly the mangrove reforestation in coastal areas here.

Mangroves serve the following functions protecting the environment: filter of sea pollutants; fish and crustaceans breeding and spawning ground; fish sanctuary; and barriers against big waves.

Baluyot said he hopes that with a massive education campaign on the environment, students here will develop a “deep sense of environmental concern.”