ILOILO – Nearly eight million trees have been planted across Iloilo Province in just six years, but keeping them alive has emerged as the bigger challenge as the provincial government races toward its ambitious goal of turning Iloilo into a “Forest Province” by 2044.
From 2021 to 2026, the provincial government, together with 43 local government units (LGUs), partner organizations and other stakeholders, planted 7,925,778 trees under Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.’s flagship TANUM Iloilo Program.
The massive reforestation campaign is aimed at increasing Iloilo’s forest cover to 33 percent, or 56,670 hectares, by 2044.
But Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office (PGENRO) monitoring showed that only 45 percent of the planted seedlings had survived as of 2025, underscoring the challenge of protecting newly planted trees long after ceremonial and organized planting activities have ended.
PGENRO expects the survival rate to improve once results of its 2026 monitoring are included.
Forester Mitzi S. Peñaflorida, head of PGENRO’s Environmental Programs and Management Services Division, said continuous monitoring and protection of planted areas are critical to improving tree survival.
“Once nga area matamnan kag protektahan, wala sang disturbances, even stray animals, ma-amat-amat lang gid man nabuhi and ma-green ang aton environment. Problema ta lang kon kis-a ang sunog sa forest, ilabi na kon summer,” Peñaflorida told Panay News.
Barangay officials, volunteers and concerned LGUs have been helping PGENRO monitor planted areas.
The province’s forest cover currently stands at 18.35 percent, a substantial improvement from only about two percent in the 1980s and 1990s. It later increased to around 12 percent following interventions by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the provincial government through the “Piyesta sa Kakahuyan.”
The annual tree-planting initiative was started in 2000 during the administration of former governor Arthur Defensor Sr. under the Action for Regreening and Transformation for Climate Change Adaptation program.
His son, the incumbent governor, sustained and expanded the initiative through TANUM Iloilo under the Movement for a Robust, Progressive, Globally Competitive and Resilient Province of Iloilo, or MoRProGRes.
Under TANUM Iloilo, the provincial government targets the planting of 1.5 million trees every year.
The seedlings planted under the program include native and fruit-bearing species such as jackfruit, cacao and coffee, as well as mangroves.
The campaign received another boost on Sept. 19 when the provincial government, through PGENRO, held the 27th Piyesta sa Kakahuyan in the uplands of Barangay Balabag, Anilao.
Around 2,000 seedlings were planted during the activity led by PGENRO chief Atty. Cesar Emmanuelle Buyco Jr., Vice Gov. Nathalie Ann Debuque and Anilao’s Mayor Teresa “Matet” Debuque.
Anchored on the theme “Tanum Iloilo: Towards a Forest Province,” the activity brought together government agencies, LGUs, communities and other stakeholders in the province’s long-term reforestation drive.
Jackfruit seedlings were planted along established contour lines using the A-frame technique, a method used to determine points of equal elevation and establish horizontal planting lines across sloping terrain.
Planting along the natural contours helps slow surface runoff, minimize soil erosion and increase the infiltration and retention of rainwater, improving conditions for the long-term survival of trees.
For Iloilo, however, the success of its 2044 forest ambition will ultimately depend not simply on how many seedlings go into the ground, but on how many grow into mature trees./PN
