San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is ramping up its sustainability efforts across different parts of the country and through its various subsidiaries.
For one, SMC's Petron Corporation is now all set to implement its rehabilitation and coastal development plan for the Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape.
In a statement, SMC president Ramon S. Ang said that despite the limitations brought on by the pandemic, the company remains committed to pursuing its environmental programs.
For the Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape, Petron’s proposed biodiversity conservation efforts include planting at least 50,000 seedlings in 10 years, coral reef rehabilitation through the installation of marker buoys in Takut-Tabu Reef, sustained shoreline cleanup along Sarangani Bay, and regular cleanup of Changco Creek.
The Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape, which is part of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS), covers Sarangani Bay and a portion of the municipal waters of Maitum, Kiamba, and Maasim, Sarangani.
It was established as a protected seascape through Presidential Proclamation 756.
Aside from Petron, SMC Global Power Holdings is also currently targeting to plant 1.1 million trees in eight provinces this year in a massive reforestation effort.
This effort is part of a larger program called 747 Project that aims to plant at least seven million trees, across 4,000 hectares, and in at least seven provinces.
Targeted areas for planting are 2,800 hectares of upland forests and 1,204 hectares of mangrove forests in Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, Bulacan, Quezon, Albay, Negros Occidental, and Davao Occidental.
Meanwhile, San Miguel Brewery, Inc. and Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. have also each established long-term tree-planting programs in the vicinity of its facilities and other areas in need of rehabilitation.
Under its Trees Brew Life program, San Miguel Brewery Inc. is looking to plant 66,000 trees this year, the bulk of which are 60,000 mangrove propagules to be planted under the Carmen Mangrove Development program in the municipality of Carmen and other areas in Cebu.
Bacolod City and Tagoloan City in Misamis Oriental are the other target areas of the company's tree planting this year.
Since 2009, Trees Brew Life program has planted over 700,000 seedlings of hardwood, mangrove, and other fruit-bearing trees nationwide.
The total will reach over a million trees if completed reforestation efforts with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and local government units are added.
Recently, SMC launched the P2-billion Pasig River rehabilitation project that aims to extract 50,000 metric tons of silt and solid waste monthly or 600,000 metric tons annually from the river for five years, to help mitigate flooding in Metro Manila and reduce plastic waste pollution.
The company’s other massive dredging project at the Tullahan-Tinajeros River now covers 11.5-kilometers or close to half of the 27-kilometer tributary that stretches from Manila Bay in Navotas City to the La Mesa Dam in Quezon City.
As of June 7, the dredging output is at 272,000 metric tons of silt and solid waste.