AboitizPower prepares host communities against disaster

November 24, 2018 Community Billboard

Ever since the 1990’s when it started operating hydro power plants in Benguet, AboitizPower has sustained its effort of giving back to its host localities through projects that forge partnerships between business and community.
The municipality of La Trinidad, for one, has been benefiting from Hedcor’s tax contributions and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, the most recent of which was the Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction Management (CBDRRM) Training in five barangays namely Beckel, Bineng, Alno, Alapang, and Shilan.
La Trinidad is home to the 19 MW run-of-river hydropower plant that is currently under construction. The plant, which was built on a much older facility to increase its capacity, will add clean and renewable energy to the Luzon grid once completed.
Around 50 residents, mostly community leaders, joined the said two-day seminar facilitated by Weather Philippines Foundation (WPF) and University of the Philippines – Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (UP-NOAH).
“The training is very beneficial to us because our municipality is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides. We sincerely appreciate Hedcor and AboitizPower’s effort to make sure that our community is safe and secure at all times. They have been our active community partners even though their hydropower project is not yet operational,” said Jonnie Puroc, Barangay Captain of Alno.
UP-NOAH, a multidisciplinary research center at UP National Institute of Geological Sciences, seeks to educate Filipinos on disaster risk reduction and management, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation.
WPF, on the other hand, is a multisectoral initiative of the Aboitiz group that is aimed at optimizing weather knowledge for socio-economic growth.
Further advancing business and communities up north, Hedcor also donated computer units, printers, and projectors to Barangays Otucan Sur and Otucan Norte in Bauko, Mt. Province.
These equipment will help the barangay officials perform their responsibilities more efficiently and more effectively, allowing them to provide their constituents with better service.
“Creating reports for the barangay has always been a challenge because we had only one computer unit. Thanks to Hedcor, we can now be of better service to our people,” said Victoria Luz Guinaten, barangay secretary of Otucan Sur.
Carlos Aboitiz, Hedcor President and COO, said that Hedcor’s sustained CSR initiatives are their way of giving back to their host communities.
“Hedcor would not have been what it is today without the support of our host communities. The growth of our company is fueled by our strong relationships with our community partners, thus, we are inspired to continuously grow the business so that we can help them even more,” Aboitiz said.
Hedcor is AboitizPower’s business unit that operates and manages 21 run-of-river hydropower plants all over the Philippines, with a total Cleanergy capacity of 245 MW. PR/ABN