DAVAO CITY—In its bid to co-create safe, empowered, and sustainable communities, AboitizPower subsidiary Therma South, Inc. (TSI) has signed an agreement for 9 corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects worth P7.5 million to be implemented this year.
The project partners and beneficiaries inked their Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) during a one-time signing ceremony last April 19, 2022 in Barangay Binugao in Davao City. The event was attended by representatives of various sectors including barangay officials and officers from the education and health departments of the government.
“COVID-19 has certainly changed the way we live, the way we work, the way we interact with people, but I believe, one thing has not changed: our partnership with the communities and the local government units,” said AboitizPower Coal Business Unit Vice President for Corporate Services Ginger Tanchi.
“We strive hard in order to support our host communities who have also been working alongside us, and partnering with us,” she added.
With support from Aboitiz Foundation, the CSR projects slated for the year are focused on educational scholarship and facility improvements, infrastructure initiatives for safe and disaster resiliency, and livelihood programs that integrate environmental sustainability, and health programs.
Sustainable projects for the community
Part of the roster of projects to be implemented this year is the Binugao Backyard Farming and Community Garden program which was initiated by community members during the pandemic.
TSI Reputation and Stakeholder Management Manager Lou Jason Deligencia explained that since it was difficult for these community members to go to the market during the pandemic, the barangay allowed them to grow vegetables in a vacant lot.
Like this program, Deligencia said other initiatives being implemented this year are brought by a series of planning sessions conducted with local community leaders to map out the social interventions they needed to support community development.
“We practice a participative and responsive CSR here in TSI,” he said. “The framework we are using is a collaboration between the company and our partners from the community. These projects will not be launched today if not for the cooperation from our stakeholders.”
Other initiatives include granting of high school and college scholarships to indigent students with good scholastic records in barangay Binugao and Inawayan, school facility improvements, and various livelihood opportunities.
During his speech at the ceremony, Inawayan Barangay Captain Danny Baquial thanked TSI for its unwavering support to his constituents, especially during this time of pandemic. “Barangay Inawayan has become famous for its projects because of AboitizPower. “Nakahimo mi ug barangay isolation unit from AboitizPower through ER 1-94, we are the only barangay in Davao del Sur to have an isolation unit,” he explained.
TSI is also now on its final leg of a three-year commitment to provide support to Davao del Sur Provincial Hospital. For this year, the company will be building a waiting area for the hospital, among other initiatives.
“The projects that we have identified and conducted with TSI in the past few years are useful for the hospital, for us to deliver the services that the people of Davao del Sur needs. Para sa amo, importante na nahimo namo ang TSI na partner, and we are thankful that we are one of the recipients of your CSR,” said Davao del Sur Provincial Health Officer Dr. Jonna Masongsong.
Working together towards a better future
Sta. Cruz Municipal Administrator Omar Jason Martel thanked TSI for its support to the municipality, and for continuously providing sustainable solutions to community concerns.
“The government cannot do this alone, the government requires participation, cooperation, and partnership of all stakeholders in nation-building,” he said. “Hopefully, this will be sustained and will be expanded to other communities.”
For his part, TSI Vice President for Operations and Maintenance and Facility Head Abe Nisnisan assured the partners and stakeholders that the company will continue to provide support to the communities.
“This is such a momentous event for TSI and the barangays surrounding the plants,” he said. “Our promise is to advance business and communities—there will be no development if it were just us growing alone so we are so glad to have partners who help us along the way to fulfill that promise.”
TSI has already donated around P80 million worth of CSR projects since 2011 to its host communities in Barangay Binugao in Toril, Davao City and Barangay Inawayan in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur—48.9 percent of which was focused on education. During the pandemic in the past two years, the projects were focused on health, safety, and enterprise development to address the urgent needs of the communities.
These projects are a testament to TSI’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, particularly on ending poverty and hunger, providing quality education and decent work, and the building of resilient infrastructures, among others.
AboitizPower subsidiary TSI operates the 300-megawatt (2×150 MW) Davao coal-fired power plant located along the boundary of Davao City and Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. It utilizes the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology and it is the first plant in the Philippines to build a “coal dome” to safely store coal and prevent fugitive dust emissions.
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