The Philippine Army (PA) showed its support for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s campaign to plant 1 million fruit trees before the end of his term by planting 126,000 fruit-bearing trees in its various camps and bases nationwide.

This came as the PA and the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday signed a “memorandum of a partnership agreement” that commenced the “Raising of One Million Fruit-Bearing Trees” project.

Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Potenciano Camba and DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban signed the pact, Army spokesperson Col. Xerxes Trinidad said in a statement Thursday night.

“The PA and the DA team up to plant 1 million trees up to the end of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s term during a nationwide simultaneous tree-planting activity spearheaded by Army and DA officials at the Security and Escort Battalion’s Kamayan Area, Installation Management Command, Fort Bonifacio, Metro Manila on March 9, 2023,” Trinidad said.

He also said major units of the PA participated in the activity through the collective planting of fruit-bearing trees in various Army camps and reservations nationwide.

“The said activity supports Presidential Marcos’ environmental protection and food security programs in consonance with the PA’s climate change adaptation by catalyzing private-public partnerships through the whole-of-nation approach,” he added.

This activity is part of the events held in celebration of the PA’s 126th founding anniversary, which falls on March 22, with the theme Army@126: Strong, United, and Reliable.

As this developed, PA uniformed and civilian personnel participated in the 1st Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Metro Manila on Thursday.

Soldiers and civilian human resource from the Army headquarters’ offices and post units executed the ”Duck, Cover, and Hold” procedure at their respective workstations at the blast of the siren, which signaled the start of the drill at about 2 p.m.

Participants then converged at the flagpole area for the accounting of personnel.

“The PA’s participation in the quarterly nationwide earthquake drill is part of the organization’s thrust to ensure disaster preparedness and resilience among its personnel,” Trinidad said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council issued Memorandum 006, s. 2023 on the “Resumption of the Conduct of Traditional In-Person Earthquake Drill” to help the public prepare for a possible catastrophic earthquake or the “Big One” that may hit the country. (PNA)