SARIAYA, Quezon — Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje launched in Southern Tagalog Friday the National Greening Program (NGP) with 2,000 volunteers planting 20,000 seedlings at three sites at the foot of Mt. Banahaw in Dolores town, this province.

Paje said the massive tree-planting activity in Barangays Sampaloc Bugon, Mamala 1 and Kinabuhayan signaled the formal launching of the nationwide reforestation program of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) based in Barangay Talipan, Pagbilao and headed by Alfredo Palencia said the 2,000 participants came from public and private schools, civic organizations, non-government organizations, local government units and Rotary Clubs in the 2nd District of the province,

Palencia said the CENRO was responsible for extended technical assistance and seedlings for the tree planting in the selected villages for the NGP, a major environment program of the Aquino administration as stated in Executive Order No. 26.

The DENR Secretary said the NGP, which targets the planting trees to cover 1.5 million hectares (ha) nationwide, is a convergence initiative of the DENR, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department Agriculture (DA).

At yesterday’s launching, Paje was accompanied by DENR-Region 4A Director Nilo Tamoria, Regional Technical Director for Forestry Fred Ocampo and local government officials.

He declared that the DENR had cancelled all permits to transport logs because of the total log ban implemented by the government.

“All logs to be transported are illegal, unless, the logs came from the planted forest and not in natural and residual forests,” Paje said.

The tree-planting activity in Southern Tagalog aims to cover 4,735 ha of vacant lots, civil and military reservations, school and church grounds as well as the sides of streets and highways in the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon or Calabarzon region by the end of 2011.