Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 18) — San Miguel Corporation has tapped former residents of Barangay Taliptip in Bulakan, Bulacan to help in a coastal cleanup drive.
“Relocatees from Taliptip comprised the first batch of workers hired under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program under the joint initiative of SMC, Barangay Taliptip, the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) of the Provincial Government of Bulacan, Office of Sen. Joel Villanueva, and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE),” a statement from SMC said Wednesday.
The cleanup drive would not only help address flooding in the area, but also provide extra income for residents as they will be paid the minimum wage per day from removing trash and other plastic waste.
Barangay Taliptip is the future site of San Miguel Corporation’s airport project. Residents were relocated in 2020.
In the statement, SMC president Ramon S. Ang said the initiative “shows how government, the local barangay, private sector, and local communities can partner and work together to make a big difference.”
Not only will it help residents, but also teach them about environmental stewardship, he added.
Ang also said that regular coastal cleanups would complement SMC’s upcoming river cleanup and channel improvement project for the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando river system, a major component of its flood mitigation initiative for Bulacan, and Taliptip. That programs aims to dredge, clean, widen, and deepen the Alipit or Taliptip River, Sta. Maria River, and the Meycauayan River, to enable more floodwater to naturally flow in them, thereby reducing flooding.
The company has undertaken the ₱1 billion Tullahan River Cleanup that helped reduce severe flooding in the cities of Navotas, Malabon, and Valenzuela.
