The Ilocos Norte government is eyeing to hire 226 additional barangay (village) ranger officers (BROs) this year to safeguard the province’s 8,000-hectare reforestation project, affected by a series of forest fires last year.

Marcel Tabije, provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer, confirmed this on Thursday after a meeting with members of the province’s forest fire task force.

“We have formed two teams for fire prevention and suppression,” he said.

Tabije said the prevention team will be composed of BROs and members of the Philippine Army and Marines to help in the conduct of foot patrol in the mountainous areas of Ilocos Norte that are prone to wildfires.

The suppression team, on the other hand, will be composed of personnel from the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Fire Protection, and additional village rangers.

As part of the strategy, Tabije said the provincial government, in coordination with the local government units, will be conducting dialogues with wildlife hunters, honeybee collectors, and kaingeros (or those involved in slash and burn activities).

“We are not saying they are responsible for it but one of the measures is to provide them an alternative livelihood by engaging them to become barangay rangers instead,” he said.

In 2024, the Environment and Natural Resources Office reported that a total of 218 village rangers were tapped to patrol and maintain around 100 hectares of forest land.

Established in 2011, the BROs deployed in eight municipalities and cities across the province are tasked to ensure the upkeep of the province’s green wall reforestation project as part of the national Greening Program (NGP) of the government.

“BROs work for 10 days in a month and they receive a stipend of PHP400 per day or PHP4,000 a month,” said Joegie Jimenez, pollution control officer of Ilocos Norte.

Aside from planting and growing thousands of forest tree seedlings and fruit-bearing trees in the upland forests and watersheds, BROs can also plant high-value crops such as ginger, taro, and sweet potatoes as additional sources of livelihood while guarding the area assigned to them from various threats.

Meanwhile, basic fire fighting training in the different villages will be conducted as the province aims for zero fire incidents this year. (PNA)