KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/06 May) — As their way of helping poor students, some 200 young men and women who call themselves, “builders of peace” planted on Saturday 200 rubber seedlings on a vacant lot at the Ginatilan Elementary School at Barangay Ginatilan, a remote village here located at the foot of Mount Apo.
“After five years, these rubber seedlings would grow into trees, which in turn would give the school the money to pay for the tuition and other school fees of many of their students,” said Ana Fe Villarosa, president of the Mindanao Youth PeaceBuilders.
Days before the tree planting, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between the school management and Lauro Taynan, a member of the city legislative council who provided the Mindanao Youth Peace Builders the funds so they could push through with the project.
Under the MOA, the school will take care of the plants until the time they could tap the tree to get the sticky, milk-colored latex and sell it to the rubber processing plant in nearby Makilala town in North Cotabato.
“The trees would be useful after five years. This is going to be a lot of income for the school.
We just want the management, including the students and parents, to take care of the plants,” she said.
