BALAMBAN, CEBU — The Balamban one million trees drive launched on 19 September 2026 as more than 3,000 volunteers joined a five-year forest and coastal restoration partnership between the Aboitiz Foundation’s CarbonPH programme and GCash’s GForest platform, aiming to grow one million trees across about 1,200 hectares of watersheds and coastal zones.
FAKTA
- Kickoff on 19 September 2026 in Balamban, Cebu, with more than 3,000 volunteers planting trees and bamboo across identified restoration areas.
- Five-year target: one million trees grown and about 1,200 hectares of forest and coastal areas restored in Balamban.
- The partnership pairs the Aboitiz Foundation’s CarbonPH programme with GCash’s GForest digital platform — the first major on-ground activation of the alliance.
- The launch was timed with World Bamboo Day and ran alongside the municipality’s International Coastal Cleanup Day activities, framing the effort as “ridge-to-reef”.
- CarbonPH is a 40-year commitment targeting roughly 71,000 hectares of Cebu’s forests and watersheds, guided by Department of Environment and Natural Resources–Forest Management Bureau standards.
- GForest has already supported 4.9 million actual trees planted, toward GCash’s goal of 10 million actual trees by 2030.
- Aboitiz Foundation President Ginggay Hontiveros-Malvar: “What we are starting in Balamban is not a one-day planting activity. It is the beginning of years of work with communities to restore forests, protect water sources and create livelihoods that can endure.”
How the Balamban one million trees project works
Organisers paired upland tree and bamboo planting with a municipal coastal cleanup, linking mountains, river corridors and shorelines in a single “ridge-to-reef” effort. Local communities joined mangrove planting in the coastal areas of Barangay Nangka, strengthening natural protection and community resilience, according to BusinessMirror’s report from the launch.
The programme operates with support from the Municipality of Balamban and the Cebu Bamboo Industry Development Council, while the DENR–Forest Management Bureau and the Climate Change Commission provide technical and policy frameworks aligning the work with the Philippines’ national climate commitments.
Partners stress the multi-year design. Rather than a single planting event, the Balamban phase is structured as years of restoration work with communities — protecting water sources, restoring biodiversity and creating livelihoods meant to endure.
From digital points to real forests
A distinguishing feature of the partnership is how it connects GCash’s digital ecosystem with physical restoration. Through the GCash app, users earn green energy points from everyday digital activities and convert them into funding for tree and bamboo planting — turning routine consumer behaviour into tangible environmental action, as BusinessWorld’s earlier report on the alliance explains.
The project sits inside a much longer Cebu commitment. CarbonPH’s 40-year horizon — with a long-term ambition spanning 40,000 to 71,000 hectares, primarily within the Central Cebu Protected Landscape and surrounding areas — is designed to outlast news cycles and planting seasons alike.
Related on Watan News: GCash and Aboitiz launch Balamban drive for one million trees in Cebu.
