Students and teachers from 44 public elementary and high schools in Talisay City, Cebu Province presented a Christmas gift to Mother Nature in the morning of December 6, 2023.

The students planted simultaneously over 200 saplings of “guyabano” (soursop).

The tree-planting project of the Department of Education seeks to plant over 200,000 trees, including mangrove propagules.

The simultaneous tree-planting initiative is not just a gift to the communities where the schools are situated, but a Christmas gift, above all, to the natural world that continues to sustain people despite human activities detrimental to the environment. 

Members of Project SAVE (Students Alliance in Valuing Earth) at the Vicenta A. Manreal Elementary School in Barangay Pooc, for example, knew that because their school is located in a coastal area, they are more vulnerable to the impact of rough waves or storm surges.

Thus, the need to plant mangrove propagules.

“To love Mother Earth is to plant more trees and I believe that this fun activity would really teach them [students]; and also they are told to care for the trees to ensure growth, so in a way, this is training them on one of the activities that could save Mother Earth,” Winesa Verola, principal of Vicenta A. Manreal Elementary School, said.