For Lamoiyan, environment comes first

MANILA, Philippines -  Truth be told that with the advent of climate change, global warming and all other environmental phenomena that manifested over the years, often with devastating results, people around the world have begun to heed.

And why not? The future generation of kids is at stake. Everyone has witnessed countless gloomy predictions about what the state of the environment would be in, say, 50 years from now, that people may not have a suitable environment to live in at all.

Lamoiyan Corp., manufacturer of world-class quality oral, household and personal care products, is responsible enough to note that above everything else, be it profit or fame or both, taking care of the environment should always be a priority.

As a company practice, management makes it a point that every employee, says Dr. Cecilio Pedro, president of Lamoiyan Corp., knows his or her responsibility in helping protect the environment.

“We know we have to start somewhere. There is no small or big effort. By taking notice of what’s happening to the environment, we have to do our share by putting in place some measures that will help protect it, and our people know it,” says Pedro.

He says it’s Lamoiyan’s vision to act responsibly with regard to caring for the environment. But then, he explains that this responsibility is not limited to the confines of the Lamoiyan facility, located along West Service Road in Parañaque City.

“Our responsibility to protect the environment is definitely not just within the Lamoiyan compound. It extends to the community not just in our area but in others as well,” Pedro says.

One aspect, he says, is the proper disposition of chemical by-products during the manufacture of their famous Hapee toothpaste and all other products.

“Chemicals are harmful to the environment. For this reason, we make sure that when we dispose of it, it will not affect our workers and the people living within the community where we operate. It’s the most responsible thing to do,” he says.

Water is also an important resource that Lamoiyan Corp. values as well. Establishing a water treatment facility during the latter part of the decade, the company believes that it is important to be able to recycle and reuse its waste water for other non-drinking purposes and at the same time save on their voluminous consumption of that precious resource.

In terms of electricity consumption, the company implements a strict energy-saving policy that involves the proper use of electricity. “Turning off of unused lights and unplugging and not just turning off of personal computers and other electrical devices do help us save precious pesos in our monthly electricity consumption. We have proven that already and that practice is now a constant among employees,” Pedro says.

He knows that the environment is very important to the company’s operations. “We ensure 100-percent compliance with every policy mandated by the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources). For us, it is proof of how much we value the environment with regard to Lamoiyan’s operations. We know that we need to protect it at all cost,” he says.

Aside from their internal efforts on environment protection, Lamoiyan Corp. is also an active participant in environment-related activities spearheaded by cause-oriented groups, government and non-government organizations and even other private entities.

In 2006, Lamoiyan Corp. partnered with the ABS-CBN Foundation through its “Bantay Kalikasan” project. Together, the two mounted a tree-planting activity at the La Mesa Watershed of the La Mesa Reservation Area.

And just last year, Lamoiyan Corp. joined another significant event, the “10.10.10 Run for Pasig River 2010” held at various places around Metro Manila.

The project, organized by the ABS-CBN Foundation’s Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig, hopes to raise more funds to continue the rehabilitation of the Pasig River, one of the country’s major rivers that connects two famous bodies of water in the country: the Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay.

“Protecting the environment is by all means not an easy task. Efforts should be coordinated in order to achieve results. By joining these activities, apart from the ones we have implemented in our company already, it is our own little way of doing what we can to help protect Mother Earth because the environment should come first,” Pedro says.