Senator Cynthia A. Villar yesterday urged the public and all concerned government agencies to continue propagating bamboo.
Villar said bamboo “has the potential of supporting sustainability in economic growth as it grows
very fast and can be grown easily in different climate conditions and altitudes and thus, reduces the pressure on trees producing timber for products for wood.”
“After harvesting, bamboo regrows from its own root system and it doesn’t need to be planted again,” Villar said, noting that bamboo forests play a leading role in global carbon cycles because they act as carbon sinks.
Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, was the keynote speaker during the Bamboo Month and World Bamboo Day Celebration spearheaded by the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC).
She added that planting more bamboo is good for the environment while giving livelihood in the countryside because bamboo can be turned into useful products.
In May 2023, Villar said the PBIDC reported that it is collaborating with the Philippine Textile Research Institute for bamboo for fiber and local governments of Miag-ao in Iloilo and Dapitan City in Zamboanga Del Norte.
The PBIDC is also coordinating with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, which is in charge of the government’s socialized housing program.
Villar said her home city Las Piñas is known for the 19th-century old and world-renowned bamboo organ found in our Saint Joseph Church along Diego Cera Street.
“We are also known as Metro Manila’s Parol Capital where bamboo is the main raw material for their lantern making,” she said.
In July 2005, the Villar Foundation established a “Bambusetum” which boasts 30 varieties of bamboo.
A Bambusetum with 28 varieties was also built at the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park, a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.
She further related Las Pinas has a Bamboo Processing Factory which makes very useful and aesthetically-pleasing bamboo steps which their company buys.