SEAMEO’s 55th Anniversary marked with tree-planting

  • By Nathan P. Felix
  • 10 December 2020

The 55th anniversary celebration of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) was memorialized with tree-planting by Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and other SEAMEO centers in the Philippines.

Dr. Ramon C. Bacani (left), INNOTECH Director, and Mr. Bennet Benoza, Manager of INNOTECH’s Knowledge Management and Networking Office, plant a tree on the INNOTECH grounds.Dr. Ramon C. Bacani (left), INNOTECH Director, and Mr. Bennet Benoza, Manager of INNOTECH’s Knowledge Management and Networking Office, plant a tree on the INNOTECH grounds.

The  SEAMEO Regional Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology (INNOTECH) based in Quezon City and SEAMEO Regional Centre for Public Health, Hospital Administration, Environmental and Occupational Health (TROPMED Philippines) located in Manila each planted a tree in their respective compounds. Leading the tree-planting were Dr. Ramon C. Bacani, INNOTECH Director, and D. Vicente Y. Belizario, Jr., TROPMED Philippines Director.

SEARCA officials, staff, and scholars have finished planting 10 Taiwan bamboo within the Center’s complex along the bank of Molawin Creek in Los Baños, Laguna, Phiippines.SEARCA officials, staff, and scholars have finished planting 10 Taiwan bamboo within the Center’s complex along the bank of Molawin Creek in Los Baños, Laguna, Phiippines.

On the other hand, SEARCA planted 10 Taiwan bamboo (Bambusa dolichomerithalla) within the Center’s complex along the bank of Molawin Creek in Los Baños, Laguna. The bamboo planting was led by Dr Glenn Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA Director, and Mr. Joselito G. Florendo, SEARCA Deputy Director for Administration. With them were some Center heads, staff, and scholars.

Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio (left), SEARCA Director, and Mr. Joselito G. Florendo, SEARCA Deputy Director for Administration (center), planted one bamboo together with a SEARCA scholar.Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio (left), SEARCA Director, and Mr. Joselito G. Florendo, SEARCA Deputy Director for Administration (center), planted one bamboo together with a SEARCA scholar.

Dr. Gregorio together with the SEARCA scholars who joined the bamboo planting.Dr. Gregorio together with the SEARCA scholars who joined the bamboo planting.

Two of the SEARCA staff who participated in the activity.Two of the SEARCA staff who participated in the activity.

The spirit of the tree-planting that resonates among the SEAMEO centers and the SEAMEO Secretariat (SEAMES) was best articulated by Dr. Belizario when he said “We planted a tree that symbolizes our collective aspiration as one SEAMEO community to help address the challenge of our time, that we can bear fruit together and be of better service to the country and of our people in the Southeast Asian region better if we grow together.”