Fire razes 10-hectare greening site in Isabela

QUIRINO, Isabela – Ten hectares of young fruit and mahogany trees grown under the government’s National Greening Program  were razed after being caught in a fire sparked by a 43-year-old farmer who had burned dried hay in his adjoining rice field here in Barangay Santiago last week.

                This, after being planted a year after being launched during Environmental Month,

                Moises Tamayo, Quirino municipal environment and natural resources officer, said farmer Vicente Cabacungan was helpless in suppressing the fire made worse by the hot climate and the winds.

                Cabacungan admitted having started the fire to dispose of palay stalks and dried grass to prepare his field for planting, Tamayo said.

                The burned plantation is part of the 100 hectares of the government designed reforestation area under the NGP in Barangay Santiago and Domingo in Quirino town. an estimated 10,000 young trees were believed razed in the fire.

                The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said it was mulling filing charges against Cabacungan