Together with partner organizations nationwide, Smart Communications, Inc. has exceeded its 2009 target of planting 300,000 seedlings and propagules in selected areas.

As of end-October, some 332,500 seedlings and propagules have been planted under SMARTrees, a tree-planting initiative under Kabalikat, the company’s corporate social responsibility and community service program.
“We thank our employee-volunteers and program partners for helping us contribute to increasing our forest cover,” said Smart Public Affairs Group Head Ramon R. Isberto.

Since August, a series of planting activities have been held in 13 provinces across the country. Planting sites include Quezon, Batangas, Bulacan, Bataan, Palawan, and Camarines Sur in Luzon; Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Oriental, and Guimaras in Visayas; and Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur and Surigao del Norte in Mindanao.

Smart is working with local offices of government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the National Commission on Indigenous People, NGOS like the Corporate Network for Disaster Response, and the Philippine Business for Social Progress, and the local government units in the tree planting program.

The reforestation effort is part of a three-year tree-planting agreement forged in 2008 between telecoms leader and parent company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Smart, the PLDT-Smart Foundation and Japan’s leading mobile telecommunications company NTT Docomo, Inc.
During the first year, Smart planted some 167,000 seedlings and propagules in about 10 provinces nationwide. A group of NTT Docomo employees also joined a tree-planting activity in Mt. Banahaw in Quezon.

The visit was duplicated last September when employees from NTT Docomo’s Global Business Division and Corporate Citizenship Department offices in Tokyo, Japan joined a tree-planting activity at the Ipo Dam Watershed in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

In addition to contributing to the reforestation of forestlands and mangrove areas, the tree planting program has also opened opportunities that will benefit the local community.