DENR 6 kicks off Environment Month 2025 with “Handog Hunol”

Iloilo City- In a vibrant launch of the Environment Month 2025, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6 led a significant distribution of seedlings among nearby agencies.

Dubbed as Handog Hunol, a total of thirty (30) Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) seedlings were distributed to agencies near the DENR regional office in P. Aquino St., Iloilo City, namely: Civil Service Commission (CSC)-Iloilo Field Office, National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Presidential Management Staff (PMS), Department of Agriculture (DA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Iloilo Station, Philippine Drug Enforcem ent Agency (PDEA), Department of Interior and Local Government – Commission on Audit (DILG-COA), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Economic, Planning and Development (DEPDev).

Handog Hunol officially kicked-off this year’s Environment Month with the theme: “Ending Global Plastic Pollution” which will see a series of environmental activities across the region.

“We engage in seedling distribution to individuals and institutions for them to also become active stewards of environment. The trees we plant today will become an investment for a sustainable future,” said OIC Regional Executive Director Raul L. Lorilla of DENR Region 6.

The Handog Hunol serves as a positive action, literally growing a seedling for a greener and an ecologically sustainable Western Visayas. DENR 6’s Assistant Regional Director for Technical Services Edgardo M. Rostata and Assistant Regional Director for Management Services June Melissa C. Garol led the distribution of the seedlings. Also with them are Chief of the Planning and Management Division Evangeline J. Regino and Chief of the Regional Strategic Communication and Initiatives Group (RSCIG) Artemio Salvador C. Colacion.

Offices who received the Narra seedlings as gift from DENR 6 expressed happiness and pledged to find a place where to grow them.

Narra is a large, reddish hardwood tree that is native to many Asian countries. It was widely introduce due to its many uses. It periodically loses its leaves due to lack of water during drought or dry season and then regains it at some point of its lifecycle. It was declared to be our national tree in 1934 by Governor General Frank Murphy of the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands./DENR 6