Universal Robina Corporation (URC) culminated its celebration of Philippine Environment Month with a nationwide tree-planting initiative. From Bulacan to Davao, URC employees and volunteers planted over 6,000 seedlings through simultaneous tree-planting activities across 25 areas.
Under the theme “Protect Nature, Sustain Our Future,” this activity aims to promote the relevance of environmental awareness and protection; reinforce its values of environmental stewardship and planet-friendly culture; and capitalize on people engagement to promote environmental compliance and best practices.
“This is an important step in fulfilling our ambition of becoming a sustainable global enterprise. We cannot do all of these without the support of our partners,” said URC Chief Executive Officer Irwin Lee.
“We, in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), encourage URC to continue to build on the success it has started and make more things happen”, DENR representative Jean Borromeo shared during the opening ceremony of URC’s Environment Month program.
URC held the tree-planting activity on June 25 to coincide with the celebration of Philippine Arbor Day.
Employees from URC’s business units–Branded Consumer Foods Group, Flour and Bread Division, Sugar and Renewables and Agro-Industrial Group–planted endemic tree saplings, such bamboo, mangrove, narra and balitarhan, among others.
Aside from tree planting, URC also held several activities in celebration of Philippine Environment Month including a coastal cleanup in Sariaya, Quezon, sustainability-themed webinars and sharing of best practices.
These activities are in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 which seeks to combat climate change and address its impacts.
For this program, URC partnered with various organizations, such as the Pasig City Parks & Playground Development Office, Clean and Green Pasig, DENR – Environmental Management Bureau, City Environment and Natural Resources Office, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office, Philippine Ports Authority, and the local government units of the different sites for the tree-planting sessions.
The month-long event was in pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation No. 237 series of 1998, declaring June as the month dedicated for the environment.
To know more about URC’s sustainability efforts, visit the URC corporate website: https://www.urc.com.ph/.
