MPIF Leads International Coastal Clean-up Day 2022

Metro Pacific Investments Foundation (MPIF), the corporate social responsibility arm of prominent investment firm Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), has inaugurated its environmental flagship program, Shore it Up! (SIU), launching a municipal-wide undersea and coastal clean-up in Mabini, Batangas.

Photo Insert: Over 100kg of trash that included wrappers and sachets, beverage bottles, single-use plastics, plastic fragments, and plastic bottle caps were collected and removed from across the area.

This activity coincided with the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) Day 2022 which was commemorated in the Philippines last September 17th. In partnership with volunteer organizations and individuals around the globe, ICC Day engages people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways.

In collaboration with the Mabini municipal government, led by Mayor Atty. Nilo Villanueva, the Resort Owners Association of Mabini (ROAM), and Basic Environmental Systems & Technologies, Inc. (BEST) over 100kg of trash that included wrappers and sachets, beverage bottles, single-use plastics, plastic fragments, and plastic bottle caps were collected and removed from across the area.

The event also resulted in over 300 volunteers from 25 resorts pledging to do their own undersea and coastal clean-ups for the remainder of the month.

This event hoisted MPIF's role, alongside MPIC, as the largest catalyst for a Sustainable Philippines, aimed at improving people's lives in the country by delivering basic services and mobilizing advocacies that improve the quality of life for all Filipinos.

“As we join the rest of the world to fight for trash-free seas, we also safeguard our local marine resources with SIU programs on mangrove protection and propagation, marine protected areas, and environmental awareness,” says MPIF President Melody del Rosario.

Mabini, along with its other bordering Batangas communities, is now adjusting to the new normal as an ecotourism hotspot, renewing emphasis on the necessity for marine conservation projects in the area.

“The Municipality of Mabini is grateful that MPIF, through Shore It Up!, never fails to protect areas that are hubs of diverse marine ecology and prosper through ecotourism,” says Mayor Villanueva. “The work that they do, and more importantly, the work we can do together, is a testament to the unmatched value of collaboration for a mutual purpose.”

MPIF facilitated the ICC Day 2022 activity to bring together local dive specialists, dive enthusiasts, and business owners which forms part of the Mabini Coastal Resource Management – Technical Working Group (MCRM-TWG). This group is now at the helm of preserving the municipality’s coastal and marine ecosystems.

Other members of the MCRM-TWG with various competencies and expertise are the following individuals: Mr. Romy Trono, Independent Consultant for the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS) – South China Sea Strategic Action Program (SCS-SAP) Project and former Country Director of WWF Philippines and Conservation International Philippines; Atty. Mario Maderazo, an Environmental Lawyer with extensive experience in policy support to LGUs and capacity building for community-based enforcement; Dr. Ricardo Sandalo, UPLB College of Human Ecology Dean who worked with the Mabini LGU on its previous CRM program; Janette Medina Dolor, former WWF staff for Mabini Projects; Dr. Jayvee Saco of the BSU-VIP Center for Oceanographic Research and Aquatic Life Science; Jake Calangi, Resort Owners Association of Mabini President; and Richard Hirsch, the founder of Applied Planning & Infrastructure Inc. (APII) and former director of the Louis Berger Group’s Integrated Development Business with 25 years of service in the fields of development communications, public diplomacy, and capacity building.

Dive resort owners Dave Santos of BUCEO Resort, Dong Vergara of Casa Escondida Resort, Jose “Joey” Fullon of Planet Dive Resort; Fr. Jing Buensalida; dive boat operator Doroteo Cruzat; fisherfolk Rodolfo Isla; and divers Edilberto Dipasupil and Julsie Schmid complete the MCRM-TWG.

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