By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Setting aside the fear of armed conflict, Muslims and Christians in the southern Philippines' island of Mindanao are seeking Friday to break the world record for the most trees planted simultaneously in multiple locations.
The campaign -- named "TreeVolution" -- aims to plant 4.6 million trees in just one hour to eclipse the current record of 1.9 million held by India.
Local officials, policemen, soldiers and Moro rebels were seen to lay down their arms Friday to plant thousands of forest and mangrove trees in the Philippines' Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as they aimed to set the world record.
Regional governors led the planting in four sites in Maguindanao as part of the Mindanao-wide “Treevolution: Greening MindaNow."
Trees planted included rubber, cocoa, coffee, timber, falcatta, forest trees, fruit trees, mahogany, narra, and mangroves -- many of which were indigenous in the area but have become almost obsolete due to deforestation.
On Tuesday, Mindanao Development Authority Project Development Chief Joan Barrera told the Sun.Star newspaper that more than 185,000 people had signed up for the event and registrations were still pouring in.
Taking part in TreeVolution Friday were thousands of people from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, all suffering from armed conflicts involving Muslim separatist groups, such as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the militant Abu Sayyaf group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Fighters (BIFF), and the communist rebel group New People's Army.
Among the rubber tree seedlings planted were many along a road connecting a stretch of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway -- the scene of the infamous 2009 “Maguindanao Massacre” where 52 people, including reporters were killed by then Maguindanoa governor Andal Ampatuan and his armed private army.
DZBB Davao reported that participants from government, police, military, students and religious groups woke up before dawn to head for the planting sites.
In Talon-Talon, one of six villages affected by a siege by the MNLF on the predominantly Christian city of Zamboanga City, some 500 participants waded in waist deep water in an effort to plant 12,500 "bakawan" saplings in a 5-hectare mangrove area with 12,500 saplings.
A team from Guinness World Records has arrived in Zamboanga to document and to validate the entry.
The "Treevolution" initiative supports the Philippines greening program that targets 1.5 million hectares reforested by 2016.
The Autonomous Region’s natural resources secretary Kahal Kedtag said he was confident that in the autonomous region alone participants had managed to plant more or less a million trees.
“But we still have to validate all reports coming from the field. It’s no joke attempting to set a world record,” he added.
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