DENR team up with Freemasons, LGU on climate change lectures

by mindo n. aquino

Cordon Isabela – DENR, Community Environment & Natural Resources Office in San Isidro, Isabela joined forces with the officers and members of Rufino S. Roque Memorial Lodge No. 289 in this municipality and LGU, here, for the series of lectures on climate change and global warming recently.
The lectures were conducted in five schools, mostly to high school students here with the intention to highlight their awareness on the ill effects of this phenomenon in the country and worldwide. A total of 1, 430 participants from Cagasat Main and Annex, Doňa Josefa Edralin Marcos, Diadi Region, and Wigan High Schools attended the forums together with LGU representatives, freemasons, and some personnel of the CENRO who spearheaded the lectures.
Given emphasis by the resource speakers were: how to minimize air pollution which will inevitably destroy the ozone layer which ultimately contribute to the rising mean temperature of the earth, proper sorting and disposal of solid wastes, planting trees in any available open spaces to serve as carbon sink or absorbers of carbon dioxide, etc.
A related sidelight of the gatherings held in four schedules and venues was the equally-important topic of RA 9147, the Wildlife Act of 2001; Migratory birds as Source of Bird Flu; and the Philippine Eagle as symbol of Filipinos’ resiliency and toughness.
In the open forum, however, most of the students were inquisitive about the effects of global warming and climate change and the ways to mitigate their ill effects. The lecturers also highlighted the adaptive measures that could be done to lessen the impact of this global phenomenon.
This activity was the brainchild of DENR in the CENRO level within the 4th district of Isabela in close coordination with the Freemasons led by Worshipful Master Rosito C. Moreno, himself a DENR personnel based at Diffun, Quirino, and LGU of Cordon thru SB member Ayson J. Villador, a Senior Warden of the Lodge. Assigned lecturers, Foresters Pedro P. Ramos, Jr. (PAWS Specialist of CENRO San Isidro) and Giovanie C. Taguinod are both members of R.S. Roque Memorial Lodge. VW Dennis M. Siclot, District Deputy Grand Master of Masonic District R2-D (Isabela South and Quirino) lauded this joint activity saying this could pave the way for a wider multi-sectoral scope of implementation for the greater awareness of people in the countrysides