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Division eyes stricter guidelines in availing plant vouchers
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Posted on Oct 20 2000
The Division of Agriculture has vowed to enforce stricter measures to ensure the issuance of its $20 plant vouchers are consumed for its intended use.
According to Urban and Community Forestry Program Coordinator Vic Deleon Guerrero, the division has started implementing steps to monitor if recipients of the $6,000 worth of plant vouchers are indeed redeeming their vouchers at the respective nurseries.
The division has tagged the vouchers with numbers to determine which vouchers have been utilized. Voucher holders’ names are also listed for the division’s future reference and to keep track of delinquent participants, according to Mr. Guerrero.
“Those who do not redeem their vouchers will be black listed. And if they apply for another one next year, then our records will reflect that. They will not be allowed to participate because they already took the privilege away from someone else who could have benefited from the program,” he said.
Next year, the division disclosed it will require participants of the plant voucher program to present identification cards prior to availing of vouchers.
The division has reportedly given away 269 plant vouchers as of yesterday, out of the 300 in stock for this year’s Arbor Month.
Starting this year, 300 vouchers worth $20 each will be earmarked for CNMI residents, limited to one per household to ensure that more families benefit from the once in a year offer.
The division in previous years only made available 150 vouchers that entitled each recipient family to purchase $40 worth of plants.
They can redeem their vouchers at selected private nurseries such as Calvo’s nursery, Build/Landscape (Nikko Hotel), Saipan plant center, and Tropical Garden. The division is also ready to provide plants and trees available at its Forestry nursery in Kagman.
More tree planting activities are expected to occur within the month around schools and their surrounding communities.
Arbor Day is celebrated annually in the United States and throughout the world, an annual tradition which the Commonwealth adopted in 1989.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Trees, our bridge to a brighter future.”
