Aboitiz pledges P20M for watershed rehab project

The Aboitiz Group has committed P20 million for the rehabilitation of the 150-hectare Buhisan Watershed in Cebu City.

Aboitiz business units in Cebu, together with the Aboitiz Foundation and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) on Friday kicked off the project which includes the reforestation of the adopted areas from the four barangays covered by the watershed area — Buhisan, Toong, Sapangdaku and Pamutan.

The five-year project will also provide disaster risk reduction management training and livelihood training for the people’s organizations within the community

Dubbed the Cebu A-Park, the five-year project will also provide disaster risk reduction management training and livelihood training for the people’s organizations within the community.

As part of the Aboitiz Foundation’s integrated Corporate Social, the project will also establish hiking trails, watch towers for bird watching and natural fish spas.

“With all of us starting on the same page, having the same destination and story ending, and agreeing to be measured in the same way, we will achieve more,” Aboitiz Foundation first vice president and COO Maribeth Marasigan said.

She noted that projects that boost business and communities are among the top priorities of the group.

The memorandum of agreement for year one of the project, which will cost P3.2 million, was signed by, Marasigan Visayan Electric Company COO Anton Mari Perdices and PBSP Director for Operations Elvin Uy.

According to Visayan Electric’s Perdices, the project will also promote love for nature and eco-tourism as the electric utility will spearhead the establishment of a butterfly sanctuary in the area.