Corporate Social Responsibility Therma South, Inc. Sustainability

50 IPs Complete Indigenous Crafts Livelihood Skills Training

June 29, 2017

Some 50 Matigsalug trainees recently completed a series of skills training conducted by AboitizPower subsidiary Therma South, Inc. (TSI) and the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., together with the Department of Trade and Industry – Region XI (DTI-XI).

The training, which is part of the ongoing comprehensive crafts livelihood project spearheaded by TSI, DTI, and the Aboitiz Foundation, aims to capacitate a group of local residents in producing value-added products out of their traditional baskets, fashion accessories, and wearables. Members of the Davao Designers Pool of DTI-XI were tapped during the product development process, as well as during the conduct of the training.

In a well-attended graduation ceremony, last 8 June 2017 in their TSI-donated Friendship Building in Marilog, Davao City, beneficiaries from the Matigsalug Council of Elders Marilog District Davao City, Inc. or MACOEMADDACI beamed with pride as they showcased the product outputs of their training.

DTI Assistant Secretary for Regional Operations Group Ameenah Fajardo led various government officials who graced the event. Other key personalities present were Davao City Councilor April Dayap, Department of Tourism-XI Regional Director Roberto P. Alabado III, City Agriculturist Leo Brian D. Leuterio, TESDA Davao City Director Nestor Tabada, and Department of Labor and Employment-XI Labor Officer Reynaldo Badilles.

“In behalf of the tribe, we would like to thank TSI for continuously finding ways to promote our culture and environment. Your cultural and environmental interventions all these years have been very helpful to the preservation of our tribe as well believe that the moment our culture and environment is lost, the tribe’s reason for existence is also lost,” said MACOEMADDACI President Datu Juanito Mandahay.

“We are very impressed with the quality of these crafts made by our partner beneficiaries. We remain committed to helping market these products not just here in Davao City and Mindanao, but also nationally and even internationally,” said TSI Vice President and Plant Manager Valentin S. Saludes III.

The products of the Matigsalug trainees will be showcased during the Mindanao Trade Expo (MTE) in Abreeza Mall in August 2017, as well as during the MTE’s Manila leg in Glorietta Makati and SM Megamall comes October. The project also aims to organize the trainees into a viable community-based cooperative later this year.

MACOEMADDACI is one of the indigenous people (IP) partner organizations of TSI in the continuing implementation of its Carbon Sink Management Program (CSMP), which aims to plant 1,000,000 trees within 10 years to rehabilitate the ancestral domain of the Matigsalug tribe in Marilog District, Davao City. The planted trees will also help offset the carbon emission of TSI’s 300-megawatt Davao Baseload Power Plant in Toril, Davao City.