The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading of House Bill 8728, the "Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act," requiring all graduating elementary, high school, and college students to plant at least 10 trees each before they can graduate.
The bill has gone through one portion of the Filipino government. It still needs to get through the Senate and then the President.
The proponents of the law say the legislation could result in as many as 525 billion trees planted in a generation if it is properly adhered to.

The Philippines’ Magdalo Party representative Gary Alejano, who was the principal author of the legislation, said:
With over 12 million students graduating from elementary and nearly five million students graduating from high school and almost 500,000 graduating from college each year, this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year.
In the course of one generation, no less than 525 billion can be planted under this initiative. Even with a survival rate of only 10 per cent, this would mean an additional 525 million trees would be available for the youth to enjoy, when they assume the mantle of leadership in the future.
The trees will apparently be planted in mangroves, existing forests, some protected areas, military ranges, abandoned mining sites and selected urban areas, according to CNN.

The government said the species selected for planting must be appropriate to each location, climate and topography of the area and there will also be a preference for indigenous species.
It is hoped the legislation will help bring environmental understanding to future generations and lead to further ecological initiatives.

The Philippines is one of the world’s most severely deforested countries with total forest cover dropping from 70% to just 20% during the 20th century. Illegal logging remains a problem for the country.