Mindanaotoday.com | Rufus seeks to declare 200-year-old Dao tree in Oro as ‘Heritage Tree’
HOUSE Bill No. 965, authored by Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, seeks to recognize the 200-year-old Dao Tree (dracontomelon dao) in Barangay Cugman, Cagayan de Oro as a Heritage Tree and a tourist attraction.
The Dao Heritage Tree, found within a pocket secondary forest in the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) area of the Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez Ranch in Bayombong, Barangay Cugman, is one of the biggest and oldest Dao trees in the Philippines.
The 200-year-old Dao stands at 49 meters high and is 222.8 centimeters in diameter, which takes about 30 persons with outstretched arms to surround the base of the tree.
Under the proposed law, the Department of Tourism (DOT), in coordination with the Department of Natural Resources (DENR), the Cagayan de Oro City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), as well as other concerned agencies, is responsible for the development of plans to promote, protect, and preserve the Dao Tree and its immediate environs.
The bill also urges the DOT to take immediate steps to implement measures for the construction and maintenance of infrastructure to enhance the area as one of the city’s tourist spots.
It can be remembered that during the 18th Congress, a similar bill was approved on the third and final reading by the House but the Senate failed to tackle the said measure.
The Cagayan de Oro lawmaker also calls for the immediate passage of this bill in the present Congress and encourages all Kagay-anons and Misamisnons to visit the Dao Tree in Brgy. Cugman and “bask in the beauty of nature.” (PR | Office of Rep. Rufus Rodriguez)
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