IN TIME for the annual observation of Arbor Day in the country, a smelting plant operating along Quezon Road in San Simon sponsored on Friday, July 6, clean-up drives in the town's 14 barangays.
Real Steel Corporation (RSC), which regularly holds corporate social responsibility activities in its host communities, partnered with the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (Menro) and village captains in San Simon to perform its environmental protection mission dubbed “Sagip Kalikasan.”
RSC Pollution Control Officer Cyril Hilario said holding clean-up drives is not new for the company, as it also held the same activity last year in Barangays Sta. Monica and San Isidro to provide a safe and clean environment to its host areas.
This year, the company did not only sustain its community outreach efforts, but also widened its scope to all the barangays of San Simon town, Hilario said.
“This is a two-month long activity to be held every Friday and Saturday of July and August. We sponsored this kind of activity to prepare the Simonian community for the rainy season. Through the clean-up drive, we are hoping the we can lessen the probability of flooding as well as the diseases it brings,” Hilario added.
Among the 14 villages in the town, Barangay Sto. Niño became the pilot beneficiary of the project.
RSC personnel, barangay officials and residents practiced unity as they simultaneously swept the streets and cleaned canals within the vicinity early Friday morning, July 6.
Barangay captain Perlito Dagdag Jr. also took the opportunity to ask for the cooperation of his constituents to continuously maintain the cleanliness in their community.
Dagdag, in behalf of his constituents, also expressed his gratitude to the RSC management and Menro headed by Melchor Tayag for choosing Sto. Niño for the kick-off of their activity.
“Although Sto. Niño is quite far from their plant, we were still chosen as their pilot beneficiary. We wanted to express our deepest gratitude to Real Steel Corporation for caring for our environment, as well as being part in our quest to make Sto. Niño a model barangay,” he said.
Tayag, for his part, lauded the efforts of RSC in going out of its way to reach out to Simonian communities, and more importantly, implementing activities that promote environmental protection and preservation.
Tayag also urged Barangay Sto. Niño residents, as well as all Simonians, to continuously help maintain the cleanliness of their community by practicing waste segregation in their respective households.
“It is our prime duty to protect and maintain the cleanliness of our environment and we must first practice it in our homes. While we are in charge of regularly taking household waste, we also hope that you can practice waste segregation to minimize the garbage we are disposing,” he said.