Manulife Philippines Continues Expanding its Impact Agenda with Zambales Reforestation Program

Manila, Philippines — As part of its global Impact Agenda, a long-term commitment to deliver meaningful programs that empower sustained health and well-being, drive inclusive economic opportunity, and accelerate a sustainable future to preserve the planet, the domestic arm of leading global insurer Manulife recently expanded its collaboration with leading nature conservation organization Haribon Foundation through the Forests for Life movement. 

“As we reach and engage more communities across the country through our Impact Agenda, we will continue to strengthen our community investments that will not only help us build a better business to better the world, but also foster kindness, generosity, and the bayanihan spirit among many Filipinos,” said Rahul Hora, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Philippines.

11,250 seedlings to be planted in 2024 

 

Through Haribon Foundation, Manulife Philippines commits to plant 11,250 native tree seedlings, in Masinloc, Zambales this year. This expands Manulife’s collaboration with Haribon, which commenced in 2022 with a commitment to help restore Philippine rainforests by planting 15,000 seedlings in Quezon and Rizal provinces. 

The reforestation area is part of the Zambales mountains called Important Bird and Biodiversity Area in the town of Masinloc, covering 30,000 hectares of land and has been home to various endangered bird and non-bird species. The area previously hosted chromite mining operations, which resulted in the destruction of its biodiversity. Today, reforestation and protection are much needed for the damaged ecosystem to recover. 

To help advance positive environmental change, Manulife has been working on implementing its sustainability action plans. In 2022, Manulife contributed USD 25.1 million in total community investments globally. There are also 1.3 billion trees planted by Manulife Investment Management all over the world since 1985, testifying to its longstanding commitment to create more nature-positive world for its communities*. 

Manulife Volunteer Days launched in 10 markets in Asia, including the Philippines

Employee giving and volunteering is also part of Manulife’s community engagement initiatives for its Impact Agenda. During the “Season of Giving” last year, the company launched its Manulife Volunteer Days, a week-long program that provided more than 56 volunteering opportunities for employees globally to volunteer for chosen organizations within their communities. These range from tree-planting, financial literacy activities for students, and other engagement activities for ethnic minorities, elderlies, and various communities in need. 

In addition, Manulife also launched the Move for your Community in Asia, where more than 1,700 employees from 10 markets, including colleagues from Manulife Philippines, Manulife China Bank Life and Manulife Investment Management Philippines, accomplished various step goals in five days, achieving 34 million steps in total. These recorded steps were converted to community investments, such as the 900 Peso Smart learning kits for elementary school students in the Philippines through the Corazon Sanchez Atayde Memorial Foundation and Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation. 

“Since 2017, our financial literacy program Peso Smart has been instrumental in promoting the value of basic financial skills such as saving, budgeting, and investing among young children,” Rahul added. “As Peso Smart has expanded over the years to cater to broader segments -- including parents, educators, and university students -- we hope we can financially empower more Filipinos to live worry-free and confidently, while securing a better future.” 

Other community investments from the Move for your Community in Asia include lunches with reusable boxes for students in Cambodia from the Rabbit School across all its campuses; 10,000 lunches for students in Vietnam through the Lotus Charity Foundation; and a public sanitation facility and a clean water facility in Indonesia through Dompet Dhuafa.

For the full story on how Manulife advances its Impact Agenda in the Philippines, watch this video or visit https://www.manulife.com.ph/ImpactAgenda. For more information about Manulife, visit https://manulife.com.ph.

ZAMBALES, OLONGAPO, BATAAN AND THE GREATER SUBIC BAY CHALLENGE THE YOUTH TO UNLEASH THEIR INNER HEROES IN THE 2018 INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP ENVIRONMENTAL SUMMIT

The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is a global movement celebrated every 3rd Saturday of September yearly and being participated by more than 100 countries across the globe including the Philippines, as we rally the community towards a common goal of collecting and documenting the trash littering the coastline. In 2017, the Philippines ranked #1 with the most number of volunteers, but on the contrary, the country is ranked #3 as the biggest dumper of plastics in the ocean. According to the Ocean Trash Index, the world's largest item-by-item, location-by-location database of trash found in near-shore environments as a result of the data submitted by all the volunteers of ICC, plastic debris remains a growing concern in the marine environment, and the top five most commonly collected items are cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic beverage bottles, plastic bottle caps and plastic grocery bags, respectively. The trash data collection is important because it will help governments, manufacturing industries, businesses and individuals in making smart solutions to the marine debris problem. As we participate for this year’s International Coastal Cleanup activity scheduled on September 22, 2018, we encourage everyone to participate in the data gathering efforts so we can have a better assessment of the trash in our area. There is an increasing need to address this issue of marine litter and beach cleanup alone is not enough​. The highlight of this continuous effort is the ICC ENVIRONMENTAL SUMMIT​, a supplement to the annual beach cleanup that will take place on September 27 and 28, 2018 at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC)​.

This year we are launching the Youth Empowerment Symposium (#YES18) as we focus on empowering our youth by tapping into the best practices of top Filipinos and global organizations, inspiring our next generation of leaders to follow-suite and provide the tools that they will need to continue our quest towards a more sustainable future. Together, they can come up with viable solutions for pressing environmental matters and approach new, peaceful and constructive ways of problem-solving. This will be the 4th Summit that will be held in Subic Bay and has always been focused on the new generation - millennials, the most powerful force of our future. If we want to change the world for the better, there has to be a change in people’s behavior. And this year’s theme is “Change Heroes​” a challenge for the youth to be an instrument for change, to spark social consciousness formation towards social change, changing the way we view the world, unleashing our inner heroes, and become better builders of our nation. It will be a symposium participated by youths, mainly the newly elected SK officials from Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan together with experienced executives and organization leaders that will focus on finding more efficient solutions to ensure that the cleanliness of our beaches will continue far beyond the cleanup activity. This event is organized by the Lighthouse Marina Resort Legacy Foundation, Make a Difference (MAD) Travel and the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary; co-presented by Coca-Cola Philippines, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, The Lighthouse Marina Resort and Globe Telecoms as the official connectivity partner; in cooperation with the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability, Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce, International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians, Miss Scuba Philippines, UP Marine Biological Society, Dakila, Seed4com, and Oceana Philippines; supported by Provincial Government of Zambales, Municipal of Olongapo, and Provincial Government of Bataan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Coast Watch Council, Department of Tourism, Philippine Coast Guard, PNP Maritime Group, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the National Youth Commission; sponsored by Ayala Harbor Point Mall, Anvaya Cove, PLDT Subictel, Think + Talk Creative Communications, VitalStrats Creative Solutions, Standard Insurance and Nanofixit.