SMC FUNDS BULACAN COASTAL CLEAN UP
Former residents of Barangay Taliptip in Bulakan town— where San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will build its premiere international airport—have been mobilized for a coastal clean up initiative to help address widespread flooding in Bulacan province.
SMC partnered with the government on this coastal clean up to complement its river rehabilitation project and provide extra income for residents.
Relocatees from Taliptip comprised the first batch of workers hired under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (Tupad) program—a joint initiative of SMC, Barangay Taliptip, the Public Employment Service Office of the Provincial Government of Bulacan, Office of Sen. Joel Villanueva and the Department of Labor and Employment.
Waste collection
Under the government’s emergency employment program, the relocatees will receive minimum wage per day to help remove trash and other plastic waste from the communities and the shoreline of Barangay Taliptip.
While Tupad is a government program, SMC helped push for its implementation to enable former residents to gain additional employment, even as the conglomerate continues to provide training and livelihood opportunities for relocatees from the area.
SMC also shouldered clean up costs, including the purchase of all needed equipment, supplies and protective gear, and handled the coordination work.
“This initiative shows how government, the local barangay, private sector and local communities can partner and work together to make a big difference not just in helping our less-fortunate countrymen, but also teaching them about environmental stewardOur ship,” SMC president Ramon Ang said in a press statement.
“Too often, when it comes to plastic pollution of our rivers and seas, we have gotten so used to seeing the problem everyday that most of the time, it just seems too big to solve. But I think we just have to start. The task is no less daunting, but together, we’ve got the ball rolling; we’re teaching locals the importance of cleaning our bodies of water, and at the same time, many of them earn from helping the environment,” Ang added.
He added that regular coastal cleanups would complement SMC’s upcoming river clean up and channel improvement project for the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando river system a major component of its flood mitigation initiative for Bulacan and Taliptip.
Resettlement
Last year, SMC completed an initiative to help provide around 300 former settlers from Taliptip their own titled house-and-lot properties in safer, nearby areas.
SMC has also partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to train relocatees on various courses to prepare them for jobs at the airport project, or to become homebased entrepreneurs.
Recently, groups of former residents have also banded together to become part of SMC’s growing network of community resellers of its popular food brands nationwide.
“We want the airport project to be a sustainable model of development that will take into account the need to improve the lives of people in our communities, as well as enhancing and preserving the environment,” Ang added.
As plastic waste materials find their way into the ocean, traditional fishing grounds are put at risk.