Nahuman na gyud akong nangka story after I went around Cebu... :D Here's my draft...
In an interview,
“Atong nakita nga dili lang igo nga magtanom tag mga kahoy. Kinahanglan usab nga nay economic return ang atong gitanom. Mabaligya so maka-generate og income.” Borgonia said.
The fruit can be sold, preserved or cooked including its seeds. It has medicinal value, its wood is used in making musical instruments like guitar and most of all it does not take a lot of years for jackfruit or nangka to grow and bear fruit.
Seeing this, Borgonia, who was then the division superintendent at that time, entered into a memorandum of agreement with the province of Cebu to support Gwen seeing that it is fitted with DepEd’s RTGP program.
“Misuporta gyud mi sa governor nga mananom ug nangka. Mi-enter kamig kasabutan nga kami (DepEd) maninguha ug makigtimbayayong sa probinsya sa Sugbo sa pagpanom og kahoy labi na gyud sa nangka,” he added.
He praises the governor for her hands-on participation during the first years of the program.
In Gov. Garcia’s visit to schools, she would let children pledge to diligently plant nangka trees and to study hard. In return, the governor also pledged to continue distributing school supplies to all elementary and high school students of the province.
Similar planting activities had been initiated by various agencies and organizations but what makes Gwen unique is that it does not stop from the planting activity alone but students and teachers are required to constantly check their plants.
Each student of all year level is required to plant one nangka tree a month. For the whole school year, a student should plant ten trees.
Initially, the Provincial Agriculture Office was the one providing the seedlings but it when it could no longer accommodate the demands, DepEd initiated the production of seedlings. With the help of Rose Godinez, Gwen coordinator, teachers were given training on how to prepare seedlings.
A million trees were planted during its first year. Theoretically, the first year would have yield 4 million trees but during the evaluation, only the growing ones were counted. Aside from DepEd, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture teamed up to check and evaluate the number of alive jackfruit trees in every schools.
A Gwen card is given to students who have planted the required number of trees and is certified as member of the Gwen movement. This is given on the last day of the class.
A reward system was set-up motivating schools to participate and students to plant more. The schools with the most number of trees planted were given multi-media projection system and television sets while students who had planted the most number of trees were given recognition during the annual awarding ceremony at the Cebu International Convention Center.
Last year, Regine Gualiza of Garing Elementary School in Consolacion received P3,000, a dictionary and a certificate of recognition personally handed by Gov. Garcia.
Schools with little space to plant trees entered into agreements with private lot owners while some students take initiatives to plant it at their homes. The barangay takes part in the program as well. To make sure that the trees they planted at home and in other places exists, a certificate from the barangay is required.
Cristy Villamor, 14, of San Remegio National High School was also given recognition for planting 122 trees in his grandfather’s lot in Brgy. Patad.
In Bogo City, Neil Papas, 20, planted 7o trees which are all growing till today. He graduated from Jovencio Masong National High School which is also an awardee for being an outstanding implementor of the RTGP and Expanded-Greening with our Wholesome Environment that Nurtures (E-Gwen).
“Namunga na gani ang uban,” Papas beamed.
The E-Gwen is the enhanced Gwen program that kicked-off last year. This includes additional criteria for the evaluation of the Gwen program aside from the requirement of planting at least ten jackfruit trees every school year.
Calape National High School in Daanbantayan was one of the Outstanding Implementor of E-Gwen. With only a little space, the school has managed to be very productive applying urban gardening. Sacks and pots were planted with vegetables and malunggays adorned the school gardens.
Godinez said that of all the schools in the province, Calape is the school that sustained the EGwen program. Through the active support of their
principal, Elmer Baldespiñosa, jackfruit and vegetable planting weren’t just planted in schools but were extended in the student’s backyard. Since its implementation, more than five thousand trees were planted with 80% survival rate.
The vegetables planted in the school were also used to support the school’s feeding program and what makes it more outstanding is that it has 0% undernourished students in every yearend’s evaluation.
From the simple tree planting activity, the program has now become a sustainable source of school’s livelihood and feeding programs. Students can freely take home produce of their school’s garden and at the same time earn.
The E-Gwen program has now been regionalized. Component cities are now also encourage to plant trees, put up nursery, compost heap, medium-scale production of at least three kinds of livestock and poultry, school pocket forest and school ground lawns. The cities of Toledo, Mandaue, Bogo and Danao and the provinces of Bohol and Negros Oriental are now joining the greening movement.
“There is an awakening on the part of our local leaders that we have to plant trees. Mao na nga it’s a good start nga nia ta sa Cebu and I think that this will change the face of Cebu in the years to come,” Borgonia said.
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