GUMASA, Glan—PLDT’s mobile subsidiary Smart Communications (Smart), together with the provincial government of Sarangani, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Sarangani Province Empowerment and Community Transformation Forum Inc. (Spectrum), supported the Sarangani Bay Festival, an annual event that aims to promote environmental awareness and protection of the 230-kilometer stretch of shoreline that is home to diverse marine life.
Smart led the #ILoveCleanSarBay multi-part campaign to help push the festival’s advocacy.
Swim-bike-run for the environment
The biggest part of the #ILoveCleanSarBay campaign was the third Swim-Run-Bike for the Environment. The challenging triathlon course was designed to showcase the beautiful waters, lush hills and immaculate sandy beaches of Sarangani.
“As a triathlete, you get to connect with Mother Nature because you swim in the open sea, you bike and run where you can appreciate nature,” said Esteban Co Jr., organizer from Body Kinetix.
The course started with an 8-kilometer swim, 30-km semi-uphill bike race and 8-km run on the beautiful white sands of Sarangani Bay (SarBay).
Jonard Saim from Polomolok, South Cotabato, a member of the Philippine National Triathlon Team, said the course was the second-hardest course nationwide.
“This is one of the hardest courses in the Philippines, because the current is strong,” Saim said in Filipino.
Saim finished first for the overall male category. Noemi Galeos won first place for the overall female category.
Rodmark Bustamante finished first for the male 24-year-old and below category, while Geoffrey Dionisio bagged the gold for the Male 25- to 34-year-old category.
Vincent Fulgueras and Michael Enriquez both took the first place for the male 35 to 40-year-old and the male 45-year-old category, respectively. While the team of Annika Gregorio, Junrey Navara and Larry Guillermo took the win for the Standard Distance-Relay.
The Swim-Bike-Run Competition by Smart is one of the most shared, viewed and liked posts of SarBay in social media.
Mangrove rehabilitation
Spectrum was able to collect hundreds of bakawan, or mangroves, with the help of Smart’s #ILoveCleanSarBay campaign. Sarbay citizens who bought mangrove got a chance to win Smart T-shirts, board shorts and other Smart summer gear. The DENR and Spectrum personnel also pledged to plant all the mangrove they had sold.
Release of ‘bangus’ fingerlings
During the same day, Smart also helped restock the local bangus (milkfish) population in the Sarangani Bay by releasing 10,000 bangus fingerlings into the bay with the help of SarBay citizens. The bangus fingerlings were donated by the Alcantara Foundation. The Alcantara Foundation’s mother company is one of the biggest producers of quality bangus fingerling in the country.
Coastal cleanup
Smart also organized a coastal cleanup at the end of the SarBay fest week as an integral part of the #ILoveCleanSarBay campaign.
Smart gave away limited-edition SarBay T-shirts or prepaid load to those who were able to collect 10 kilos of trash.
Apart from awareness campaigns, tree-planting and cleanup drives, Smart has also been advancing the institutionalization of sound environmental practices in the industry, and empowering communities to play an active role in environment protection and conservation.
Smart is the first company in the Philippines to make use of eco-friendly materials, like stone paper for its outdoor advertising, and is one of the key proponents of the Marikina Watershed Initiative that aims to reforest and rehabilitate Metro Manila’s flood-water catch basin.