EDC one with Negrenses’ fight against Covid-19

April 20, 2020
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1853332

“WE GIVE not because we can but because we can imagine what it feels to be hungry.”

This was the statement of Richard Tantoco, president and COO of Lopez-led geothermal leader Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in his email to all employees.


With this sentiment and because of its commitment to supply uninterrupted supply of clean, renewable power to help the country conquer this Covid-19 pandemic, EDC and its employees have been pooling company and personal resources to provide assistance to its daily contractors, partner communities and local government units (LGUs), security and medical frontliners, and to the chronically food insecure in Metro Manila and in all its renewable energy sites.

In Negros Oriental where EDC’s 222.5-megawatt Southern Negros geothermal facility stands, its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team and other site employees initiated several forms of assistance since the first positive case of COVID-19 has been been confirmed in the province.


“As we do our best to be healthy and safe, we are also all hands-on deck in helping our partner communities and even those in the city,” said Norreen G. Bautista, head of EDC’s CSR team in Negros and in Mount Apo. “It’s overwhelming because there’s so much help that is needed but we’re doing all that we can. Employees have likewise been generous enough to provide cash assistance to local residents who have been affected by the enhanced community quarantine.”

Bautista’s team has launched Tabang Dumaguete, with donations from site employees reaching a total of 175,000 pesos, to address the needs of the city’s marginalized sectors and support our medical frontliners. The team likewise launched another employee fundraising campaign, Shoulder-to-shoulder, to supplement the needs of the facility’s daily contractors and their families.

EDC recently loaned a 20-ft airconditioned container van to the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH). It is currently being used as NOPH’s extension and a swab facility for suspected Covid-19 cases.

“On behalf of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, we would like to give our deepest appreciation and thanks to EDC, for their sincere commitment to serve the province through their container van which was delivered and is currently being used for the Covid-19 ward. The Department of Health also utilized this van for packing of specimens for testing in Vicente Sotto Medical Memorial Hospital in Cebu City. Through our concerted efforts, we can fight and beat this pandemic together,” said Dr. Marc Angelo C. Llosa, Provincial Health Officer II and Head of NOPH.

EDC has likewise donated over a hundred personal protective equipment (PPE) suits to NOPH that were fabricated by local designers who are working together to help the frontliners in Dumaguete City under Project Silver Lining. The company will donate more PPE units to other hospitals in the area once they are delivered.

Sacks of rice for almost 200 households in EDC’s host barangays in Valencia, Negros Oriental along with food packs for frontliners, those manning the checkpoints, and those affected by work stoppage during the community quarantine. Six infrared thermal scanners were also donated for those who are manning their checkpoints while 32 folding beds were turned over to the Valencia Rural Health Unit.

In Northern Negros, EDC provided support to its partner communities in the form of financial assistance for medical supplies and rice subsidy of 10 sacks to its two host barangays (Mailum, Bago City and Minoyan, Murcia). The company also loaned to Barangay Mailum one backpack sprayer for disinfection activities within the community.

EDC is the country’s premier renewable energy company and one of the world’s largest geothermal producers. Its geothermal facilities in Valencia, Negros Oriental has been providing clean, renewable, reliable power 24/7 to Negros Island and other parts of the Visayas region for over 36 years. (PR)