Alsons Power earmarks P40 M for CSR

By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) | Updated May 2, 2016 - 12:00am

http://www.philstar.com/business/2016/05/02/1578768/alsons-power-earmarks-p40-m-csr

MANILA, Philippines – Alsons Power Group has budgeted P40 million for its various corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in Mindanao this year.

The company said the allocation would cover various initiatives in the areas of education, environment stewardship, and infrastructure and community development.

Mainly focusing on education, Alsons will look for 200 students as beneficiaries of its scholarship program for school year 2016-2017.

It will also fund the construction of a new school building at Alabel National High School in Sarangani, and a multi-purpose gym in Barangay Baluntay’s Datu Abdullah Tondog Elementary School also in Alabel, Sarangani.

Alsons Power has also allocated funds to the Alcantara Foundation’s reading enhancement program dubbed Samahang Big Brother, which is designed to improve the reading skills of children in the communities, and provides faculty development trainings for teachers.

“We believe that education is key to poverty alleviation and, as such, has always been the group’s priority program especially in the underserved areas where we operate. We want to be a major contributor to the improvement of people’s quality of life of people in the Mindanao communities that have been home to our businesses from the very start,” Alsons Power’s corporate affairs manager Ruben Tungpalan said.

The company will also support several socio-civic projects that include the purchase of hospital equipment to be utilized by the Provincial Hospital of Sarangani, and basic medical equipment for the use of barangay health workers.

For its livelihood and environmental initiatives, the firm’s CSR program will include river and coastal protection and enhancement programs, bangus fry re-stocking for Sarangani Bay, and water system development at Brgy. Baluntay in Alabel, Sarangani, among others.

With its commitment to provide power in Mindanao, Alsons is expected to be generating a total of 588 MW (megawatt) by 2019 – a little over 25 percent of the region’s projected peak power demand.

It currently operates four power plants in Mindanao which include Mapalad Power Corp.’s 103-MW diesel plant in Iligan City; the 55-MW Southern Philippines Power Corp. diesel facility in Alabel, Sarangani; the 100-MW diesel plant of the Western Mindanao Power Corp. in Zamboanga City; and the 105-MW first section of the Sarangani Energy Corp. coal-fired power plant in Sarangani.