Mother Nature was a most picturesque backdrop for the walk Around 450 employees of the Lopez Group, their family members and friends joined the Lopez HR Council-Lopez Lifelong Wellness Walk the Talk (WTT) and BINHI treeplanting activity at the Montemaria in Batangas City on September 23.

The event was sponsored by First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPH), First Gen Corporation and Energy Development Corporation (EDC).

First Gen vice president Jerome Cainglet, Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas and Montemaria Asia Pilgrims Inc. vice president Arnold Gutierrez delivered the welcome remarks.

Allan Barcena, senior manager of EDC’s Watershed department, discussed the EDC-First Gen-Montemaria BINHI project. The partnership between the three institutions recognized the importance of preserving and propagating Philippine native tree species.

At the planting site, the BINHI participants proceeded to plant 200 native trees, including bagauak-morado, tindalo, kamagong, kamagong-ponce, ipil, narra and molave.

The participants warmed up in the stretching and exercise portion led by the Rockwell Club. This was followed by a safety briefing from First Gen’s Quality, Environment, Safety and Health standards personnel.

During the three-kilometer walk, the participants beheld the majestic splendor of the area as they looked down on Batangas Bay, Tingloy Island and Isla Verde. They also had an up-close encounter with one of the tallest Virgin Mary statues in the world at 88 meters.

The November WTT will be held at the Rockwell Center in Makati. (Story/Photos by: Gerbs de Castro)

The famous 88-meter statue of the Virgin Mary

Warm up and chill

September birthday celebrants

First Gen VP Jerome Cainglet

FPH’s Ayesha Volpane

First Gen’s Jun Prila

First Gen leads the invocation