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John Unson - Philstar.com
January 19, 2026 | 6:13pm
The forest and fruit tree nursery of a private firm in Tampakan, South Cotabato has thousands of seedlings ready for distribution to the communities in highland areas in four towns in Central Mindanao.
Photo courtesy of Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY— Villagers in South Cotabato province and nearby General Santos City have planted 44,970 forest and fruit tree seedlings in the uplands of both areas over the past four years, all properly accounted for and documented.
Environmentalists, including leaders of Muslim and Christian religious groups in South Cotabato, one of the four provinces in Region 12, told reporters on Sunday, January 18, that they hope the feat will be replicated in other areas of Central Mindanao.
Radio reports on Sunday stated that the forest and fruit tree seedlings were planted by barangay officials, members of indigenous tribes, and settlers from outside in Barangay Mabuhay in General Santos City; on ridges in the Lambayong area; in high grounds near Mount Matutum in Tablu; and in Danlag, all located in the upland town of Tampakan in South Cotabato.
The reports also noted that the massive planting of tuai, narra, mahogany, and kalantas forest trees across these four areas was a joint initiative of local executives, the mixed ethnic Blaan and settler communities, employees and officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 12, and environment-protection experts from Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI).
Besides forest tree seedlings, thousands of guyabano and Coffea arabica seedlings have also been planted in the four areas, according to local executives and senior officials of DENR-12.
Two elderly Blaan tribesmen, Fasing Guwenong and Kintew Lanubat, expressed their gratitude to DENR-12 and SMI for helping reforest the denuded areas within their tribal domains.
DENR-12 officials and barangay leaders told reporters on Sunday that SMI provided the forest, fruit tree, and coffee seedlings for the multi-sector tree-planting activities in recent years in Barangay Mabuhay in General Santos City, as well as in the hinterlands of Lambayong, Tablu, and Danlag in Tampakan.
Documents obtained from local executives, DENR-12, and the community-based Pagkakaisa Agroforest Development Association indicate that in Barangay Mabuhay alone, 6,914 of the 7,118 forest and fruit tree seedlings planted in the area are thriving and being carefully tended by villagers.
SMI was contracted by the national government to mine copper and gold in Blaan ancestral lands in Tampakan, with separate written permissions from both the tribe and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. However, the firm has not yet commenced operations since the mining project was launched more than a decade ago.
The Tampakan Copper-Gold Project covers the adjoining upland Blaan enclaves in four towns: Tampakan in South Cotabato, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat, Malungon in Sarangani and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.
Datu Zahir Mamalinta, chairman of the predominantly Blaan Barangay Datalblao in Columbio, said that DENR-12 and SMI are working with the local government unit to advance its reforestation projects.
“We are together in protecting our forests from poachers, besides helping us plant more forest trees in our surroundings,” Mamalinta said.
The vice mayors of Malungon and Kiblawan, Maria Theresa Constantino and Joel Calma, respectively, said that SMI employees immediately deliver forest tree seedlings from their Tampakan nursery to the LGUs whenever needed for periodic tree-planting activities in the mountain ranges where the ethnic Blaan reside.
