The City of Alaminos, Pangasinan was recently accorded the Stakeholder Recognition Awards by the Metro Pacific Investments Foundation in celebration of the 15th anniversary of its corporate social responsibility program Shore It Up! The stakeholder recognition acknowledges the Foundation’s program partners and the successes and milestones that they have achieved through the partnership.
The City will also be bannered and promoted by Metro Pacific as partners with best practices and are benchmarks for similar community-based initiatives. The local government unit also received P 100,000 to further support their advocacy programs, which includes the innovative Mangrove Propagation and Information Center project.
Situated by the coastal village of Bued, the Center is located at the Mangrove Eco Park which is manned by local eco-guides who provide visitors with an educational tour around the 8-hectare nursery. It also serves a supplemental recreational activity for guests after doing the Hundred Islands Natural Park tour.
Since its inception in 2009, Shore It Up! has mobilized some 87,000 volunteers, 2,600 runners and 1,034 scuba divers, and has reached out to 464 organizations and local government units, 180 families, and 2,800 school children in 12 locations across the archipelago. It has also trained and provided support to 10 eco-guides and 36 marine guardians to help boost local tourism and protect the coastal and aquatic resources.
In photo at the awarding ceremony are (front row): Alaminos mangrove eco-guide Emman Ladia, Alaminos City tourism operations officer Miguel Sison, MPIF President Melody Del Rosario, Alaminos environmental specialist Catherine Oyzon and son, Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte mayor Alfredo Coro II, MPIF admin Allen Basa, (back row): Del Carmen mangrove eco-guides Elvie Nier, Jessel Roz, Junmel Conversion, Arcie Arizalita and Alaminos mangrove eco-guide Angelica Brudo.