San
Miguel Brewery, Inc (SMB), being the largest and premiere beer manufacturer of
the Philippines, is also one of the firms which is taking larger-than-life
initiatives for environmental conservation and rehabilitation. While the
company is savouring titanic success, it has laid out comprehensive Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) aimed at helping their host communities by caring
for the environment and contributing to countryside development.
For
two consecutive years, I have witnessed how serious SMB is in its Buhayin ang
Kalikasan, an annual tree planting project that underscores its commitment
towards responsible stewardship of the environment. To some interrelated
magnitude, they christened the program TREES BREW LIFE which to me a
manifestation of levelling up their tree growing efforts in order to infuse
respect and care for life, not just human life but the rest of biodiversity.
Last
August 13 I was commissioned by Meggy, a very good friend from SMB, to photo
document their tree growing in Matina Pangi, Davao City. This has been their
project area over the last four years. As usual, the enthusiasm of the employees
to plant trees was very evident. They planted a total of 2,000 assorted
seedlings in the extended portion of the Pangi river. As I roamed around I saw
the trees planted a year ago which now started to develop greener and huge
canopy.
I
am sure there are so many attempts to do the same but SMB’s mechanisms spell a
difference in sustaining the initiative. In 2013, the survival rate of the
trees planted was at a whopping 94 percent. In 2014, the outcome is almost the
same, generating an 89 percent survival count. The 2015 version has yet to be
identified but when I joined Meggy in a site monitoring visit, majority of the
trees grew well despite the El Niño phenomenon in summer this year.
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| WE'VE DONE OUR PART. Some friends in the media here in a souvenir shot |
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| With representative from San Miguel Foundation Mr. Don Guerrero |
It
was just plain and simple why SMB is successful in brewing life, and for me the
system has to be all-inclusive. First, they tapped the barangay government of
Matina Pangi as their partner who is committed to monitor and take care of the
trees planted. A site caretaker was assigned to practically perform cultural
management practices while the seedlings are in their infant stage, which is
definitely the most critical stage of the seedlings' lives. SMB also knocked the
assistance of the City Environment Office and the community residing in the
planting sites, recognizing their respective roles in sustaining the
initiative. Indeed, multi-stakeholdership approach is categorically the name of
the game.
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| With Matina Pangi Barangay Captain Carmelo Arana |
Second,
with CENRO’s guidance, appropriate tree species should be planted so as to
attain higher growth proportion. In a riverbank stabilization for example, SMB
planted Malibago trees, an ideal specie which is also known for its survival
instinct despite instances of long dry spell and drought. It is also propagated
asexually, which means that it has diffuse root system suitable for creating
river to soil equilibrium.
With
SMB’s name associated to beverage brewing excellence, there is a fresh
component that is integrated into its label and that is the care and esteem to
life and it is manifested by growing more trees every year.
