SMB employees plant mangrove propagules

CEBU, Philippines - Employees of the San Miguel Brewery and other private sectors planted at least 5,000 mangrove propagules in the coast of barangay Alegria, Cordova town Sunday.

Romelinda Garces, Business Affairs and Communications head of the Brewery, told The FREEMAN that they will plant 15,000 more mangrove propagules within this month and 40,000 land-based trees in Barangay Busay next.

The annual activity which they have been doing for a long time, Garces said, is part of their marine and forest conservation program which, furthermore, is part of a bigger project called environmental advocacy.

The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce, Mandaue Jaycees, and barangay officials led by barangay captain Joy Wahing, joined them in last Sunday's morning activity which was started at 5:30 a.m. There were over a hundred of them.

Garces said that after the mangrove-planting, they will proceed to planting land-based trees in Busay for their reforestation project.

"We owe a lot to our environment our business; 90 percent of beer is water, so we should really take care of this valuable resource," Garces said.

Last year, San Miguel Brewery, which is based in Mandaue City, planted trees at the roadside of the city. They were joined by Mayor Jonas Cortes, Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, and Talisay City Vice-mayor Allan Bucao. (FREEMAN)