Volunteers from the Plantation and the Bugo manufacturing facility of Del Monte Philippines, Inc. planted bamboos along the Bubonawan riverbanks of Mt. Kitanglad in the municipality of Libona, Bukidnon. This formally launched the bamboo growing project which aims to help conserve the Bubonawan watershed that is part of the Cagayan de Oro River basin. A portion of the watershed’s headwaters is denuded due to logging and unsustainable human activities in decades past. Its riverbanks were identified by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as both high and very highly susceptible to landslides. Vulnerable and at risk is the Indigenous People’s community dwelling within the area.
Del Monte Foundation, in partnership with the LGU-Libona, the IP community in the Sil-ipon Capihan ancestral domain and the DENR, with the support of DMPI and its employees, have embarked on a bamboo growing project in the slopes and riverbanks of Bubonawan, targeting 25 hectares in 2023 and aiming to cover 100 hectares by the company’s centennial in 2026.
