Corporate Social Responsibility

Championing social responsibility: AboitizPower helps advance business and communities

October 08, 2024

Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) believes that upholding social responsibility and championing community development is integral to its operations and its purpose of Transforming Energy for a Better World.

For the Company, sustaining the business and making it resilient is made more meaningful when it is also wielded to bridge the gaps within its host communities and bring opportunities for a shared prosperity.

AboitizPower is guided by the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), integrating its vision into its business practices and community engagements. Through projects big and small, empowering people and enhancing lives becomes an integral part of its corporate mission.

Decent Work and Clean Water

Within the franchise area of Visayan Electric Company, Inc. (Visayan Electric) is the 630-hectare Buhisan Watershed Forest Reserve. Deemed a part of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape, its dam provides Cebu with most of its water source, while efforts towards its rehabilitation give the residents of Barangay Buhisan opportunities for stable green jobs.

Visayan Electric and the Aboitiz Group, together with its partners, have adopted 150 hectares of the forest reserve for rehabilitation, protection, and conservation. In the last four years, 60% of the area has been populated with Narra, Taloto, Mango, Jackfruit, and other trees. In effect, local residents have been empowered as frontline caretakers and gardeners in a tree nursery, propagating the native and fruit bearing tree seedlings for reforestation activities.

“Recognizing the Buhisan Watershed’s crucial role in championing environmental sustainability and providing water to Cebu City, we initiated a comprehensive reforestation project. This initiative, a collaborative effort among Aboitiz business units, aims to restore and protect this vital natural resource,” said Visayan Electric Reputation Enhancement Head Quennie Bronce.

For 2024, 30 more hectares will be for rehabilitation, with plans to plant over 150,000 new seedlings, establish a riparian zone, and create a butterfly sanctuary.

Thanks to the project, Visayan Electric and the Aboitiz Group are able to help Barangay Buhisan become a more sustainable community through decent work, as well as by instilling a deeper appreciation of the greenery and the wildlife. In a wider scope, the rehabilitation of the Buhisan Watershed also ensures a much more stable water supply to Cebu City.

AboitizPower’s Visayan Electric is the second largest electric utility in the Philippines. It serves the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, Naga, and the municipalities of Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla, and San Fernando.

Life on Land

At the same time, AP Renewables Inc. (APRI), an AboitizPower geothermal energy producer, also adopted a 10-hectare forest in Sitio Panal, Tiwi, Albay and another 10 hectares in Mount Makiling — both areas within its host community.

Together with its partners — composed of the National Power Corporation, non-governmental organizations, and the local community — APRI planted Narra seedlings and some fruit-bearing trees to reforest and rehabilitate the adopted areas. By 2025, the goal is to achieve an 80% survival rate of the over 24,000 seedlings planted.

The adoption and restoration of these 20 hectares reinforce APRI’s carbon sequestration efforts in the past few years, which includes over 7,300 trees planted in 2019 and 2024.

APRI operates two geothermal facilities in Tiwi, Albay and the areas of Bay and Calauan, Laguna and Sto. Tomas, Batangas. With a net sellable capacity of 290 megawatts, it delivers clean and renewable baseload power.

Other AboitizPower generation facilities have also initiated carbon sequestration activities. Therma South Inc. recently completed its goal of planting one million trees in Davao City under a carbon sink management program it began in 2015. Similarly, with a target of one million trees, Therma Visayas Inc. is on track, having planted and nurtured over 770,000 trees as part of its 10-year carbon sink management program that started in 2016.

Quality Education and Industry

In the southern part of the Philippines, AboitizPower distribution utility Davao Light and Power Co., Inc. (Davao Light) and the Aboitiz Foundation established technical vocational facilities in several highschools. These are meant to support quality education and encourage careers in science, technology, and engineering in Davao City and parts of Davao del Norte.

Through Project e.Lab, 43 public high schools received fully furnished electrical installation and maintenance laboratories, complete with wiring boards and essential tools. These fully equipped facilities aim to capacitate students with the skills needed to achieve a national certification from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA, making them more competitive and technically proficient in the field.

As proof of the project’s success, Project e.Lab, played a pivotal role in Davao Light’s recognition as the Philippine private sector winner of the 6th ASEAN Rural Development and Poverty Eradication Leadership Awards.

Meanwhile, the distribution business group of AboitizPower also strengthened its long-standing relationships with several universities in Visayas and Mindanao through scholarship programs for electrical engineering students. This includes the offering of employment opportunities to deserving graduates.

“Our collaboration is a testament to our shared belief in the power of education, research, and technological advancement. By pooling our resources, expertise, and aspirations, we aim to catalyze change, not just in the energy sector, but in the lives of the people we serve,” said AboitizPower Distribution Utilities COO Anton Perdices.

“Our vision for [these] partnership[s] extends far beyond training and scholarships. It's about fostering a generation of engineers equipped with knowledge, practical experience, and an innovative spirit,” he added. “This initiative not only promotes academic excellence but also cultivates a pipeline of skilled professionals ready to contribute to the energy sector's growth.”

Sanitation and Good Health

Cotabato Light and Power Company (Cotabato Light) is also taking a step to uphold environmental stewardship and preservation in its franchise area through an initiative called “Adopt-an-estero” (Adopt-an-inlet canal).

The AboitizPower distribution utility partnered with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy (MENRE BARMM) to address water pollution. Under a three-year memorandum of agreement, the partners will collaborate with local communities, private businesses, and government agencies to conduct regular cleanup initiatives and raise awareness about environmental protection.

The project also includes educational programs, capacity-building workshops, and sustained community involvement to ensure long-term impact.

“Through this partnership with MENRE BARMM, we are not only cleaning up waterways but also empowering communities to take responsibility for our environment,” said Cotabato Light President Valentin S. Saludes III. “This initiative is an integral part of Cotabato Light's corporate social responsibility, in line with our mission to support sustainable and inclusive growth in the communities we serve.”

The “Adopt-an-estero” initiative will focus on several strategic locations identified by MENRE BARMM, prioritizing areas most affected by pollution. By mobilizing all available resources and networks, Cotabato Light and MENRE BARMM hope to create a cleaner and more sustainable environment characterized by clean water and sanitation, as well as good health and well-being.

Cotabato Light provides electric power to Cotabato City, including the surrounding municipalities of Datu Odin Sinsuat and Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao.