5,000 Aboitiz team member volunteers plant trees
About 5,000 Aboitiz team members from various parts of the country upped their game in helping combat climate change by taking part in the annual Aboitiz groupwide simultaneous tree planting (STP) held last Saturday in 22 sites nationwide. An estimated 95,000 fruit-bearing seedlings and native trees were planted.
This single-day initiative is part of A-Park, the Aboitiz Group’s largest environmental program that supports the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Expanded National Greening Program (ENGP).
Philippine Army Mechanized Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Robert C. Dauz said the ENGP paved for a harmonious relationship between government agencies and the private sector in attaining one goal in protecting and preserving the country’s ecosystem.
“Our simultaneous tree planting today with the Aboitiz Group as lead agency in partnership with Pilmico, DENR, and Training and Doctrine Command is a demonstration of our strong commitment to the ENGP… your Armed Forces of the Philippines is one of your active partners in this very important undertaking towards greener Philippines,” Maj. Gen. Dauz noted.
Launched in 2010, the initial goal was to plant three million trees by 2015. Aboitiz readily surpassed that goal and raised its target to nine million trees by 2020. As of end 2018, the group has planted 6.6 million trees all over the Philippines.
“Our re-greening efforts and the care we exert to our ecosystem demonstrates our core value of responsibility. The responsibility we have for each other and the generation we will bequeath our planet to,” Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. President and CEO Erramon I. Aboitiz told volunteers across multiple planting sites via live feed from Camp O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac where Manila-based Aboitiz team members planted approximately 20,000 seedlings of narra, guyabano, and mango.
The program aligns with the Group’s commitment to environmental stewardship, particularly focused on carbon emissions reduction while providing livelihood opportunities to its host communities. Aboitiz usually taps locals to monitor the survival rate of the planted seedlings.
The planting of nine million trees would mean the conversion of an estimated 189,000 tons of carbon dioxide (tCO2) into oxygen or the equivalent of about 9,000 hectares of lush reforested areas, or more than 37 times the size of Bonifacio Global City.
Among the Aboitiz companies and business units which participated in this commitment to sustainability are Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV), Aboitiz Power Corp., AP Renewables, Inc. (Tiwi and MakBan),Therma Mobile, Inc., Visayan Electric Company, Inc., East Asia Utilities Corp., Cebu Private Power Corp., Therma Marine, Inc. (Maco and Nasipit), Therma Power Visayas, Inc., Therma Visayas, Inc., Aboitiz Power Renewables, Inc., San Carlos Sun Power, Inc., Davao Light & Power Company, Inc., SN AboitizPower, Cotabato Light and Power Company, Luzon Hydro Corporation, Hedcor-Bukidnon, Hedcor-Benguet, Hedcor-Sabangan, Hedcor-Davao, Hedcor-Sibulan, Therma Luzon, Inc., Therma South, Inc., Subic Enerzone Corp., LiMA Enerzone Corporation, Balamban Enerzone Corp., Mactan Enerzone Corp., Republic Cement Services, Inc., Republic Cement & Building Materials, Inc., Republic Cement Land and Resources, Inc., Pilmico Animal Nutrition, Pilmico Foods Corp., Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc., Aboitiz Construction, Inc., Aboitiz Land, Inc., LiMA Land, Inc., Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., Weather Philippines Foundation, Inc., Weather Solutions, Inc., Union Bank of the Philippines, City Savings Bank, Inc, and PETNET, Inc,
“We are truly proud of our A-People, all of you, for the positive impact you make on our host communities through our reforestation activities,” Aboitiz noted.
