World record bid for tree-planting in Mindanao starts

Mindanao residents started shortly after 8 a.m. Friday a bid to break the world record for the most trees planted simultaneously in multiple locations.

The campaign, dubbed "TreeVolution," aims to plant 4.6 million trees to eclipse the current record of 1.9 million held by India, state-run Philippine Information Agency said.

As of 8 a.m. Friday, residents from Davao City flocked to some of the planting sites, occasionally causing heavy traffic, RGMA's Raul Tolibas reported on dzBB radio.

Expected to take part in TreeVolution are Regions 9 to 12, Caraga, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

In Davao, thousands of participants from the government, police, military, students and religious woke up before dawn to head for the planting sites.

Meanwhile, PIA said 200 planters had registered at Barangay Binayan in Zamboanga del Sur.

PIA added that in Zamboanga del Sur, members of the Medical Doctors Association and Land Bank of the Philippines took part in the TreeVolution activity.

In Dipolog City, more than 400 participants registered and gathered at the planting site.

On the other hand, in Talon-Talon in Zamboanga City, participants to the mangrove planting trekked in waist-deep water. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News