Aboitiz offsets carbon emission with 1M trees

CEBU, Philippines - AboitizPower yesterday led 26 companies under the Aboitiz group in planting seedlings across the country – an effort to plant approximately 1 million trees to offset the group’s carbon emission.

Here in Cebu, around 700 employees and volunteers planted 20,000 seedlings of indigenous trees in a 12-hectare land in Bojo in the western town of Aloguinsan.

A big portion of the land is barren and Aboitiz intends to help resuscitate the biodiversity in the area.

Some of the seedlings planted include those of kulatingan, taguilomboy, narra, kaningag, nato, bitaog, lauan, kamagong, amugis, kalantas, anayan, almon, malakape, sagimsim, mayapis and bonot-bonot.

The site in Cebu is under the auspices of the local government unit and the Bojo Aloguinsan Eco-Tourism Association. The LGU and BAETAS have agreed to monitor the progress and growth of the trees to ensure their survival.

Aloguinsan Mayor Cynthia Go Moreno and Vice Mayor Ceasar Moreno also supported the initiative.

Moreno said they will make sure that the seedlings will become full-grown trees. Boboy Custas, project director of Bojo River Ecotourist project, said community involvement is also needed to help the seedlings survive.

The Aboitiz group eyed 11 sites, including Cebu, Davao, Cotabato and Subic, but activities in the other sites in Luzon like Marikina, Baguio, Benguet and Magat in Isabela were cancelled due to the devastation caused by tropical storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng”.

The other participating Aboitiz companies include Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc., Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., AboitizLand, Cebu Industrial Park & Development Inc., Aboitiz Transport Systems, 2GO, Aboitiz Jebsen, City Savings Bank, UnionBank, Metaphil, Pilmico Foods Corp., Pilmico Animal Nutrition Corp., Aboitiz Energy Solutions Inc., AP Renewables, Inc., Balamban EnerZone, Mactan EnerZone, Cebu Private Power Corp., East Asia Utilities Corp., Davao Light & Power Co., Hedcor, Luzon Hydro Corp., Manila Oslo Renewables, Inc., SN Aboitiz Power, and Visayan Electric Company. — Johanna T. Natavio/JMO (THE FREEMAN)