EDC program aids communities

By Rizal Raoul Reyes  - April 27, 2020

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/04/27/edc-program-aids-communities/

Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said is addressing the the livelihood and environmental concerns of local communities via its 30-year-old Baslay coffee program.

Allan Barcena, head of EDC’s corporate social responsibility-public relations group, said the initiative has transformed slash-and-burn farmers in the mountains of Baslay in Dauin, Negros Oriental into forest stewards.

The company said it was able to do so by providing them alternative and lucrative coffee farming livelihood, effectively turning them away from their former environmentally destructive practices.

“We believe that just as important as the implementation and positive impact of our various CSR and stakeholder relations programs is the way they are communicated,” said Barcena a statement.

  Under the leadership of its chairman and CEO Federico Lopez, EDC revealed it would only develop clean energy. In 2017, the company adopted the First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) Sustainability Framework, which underscores system value and recognies that business can only grow and prosper if there is judicious management if  ecosystems and natural resources.

Meanwhile, EDC recently bagged top Grand Anvil prize at the 55th Anvil Awards of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), along with 12 other trophies for communication excellence in its PR, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability programs.

EDC’s entry “Baslay Coffee: Brewing a Better Life for Kaingeros” received a Gold Anvil and was subsequently deemed the most outstanding among all other recipients, thus earning it the highest Grand Anvil distinction.

The Anvil Awards is the annual prestigious event of the Philippine public relations industry that recognizes exemplary, effective and innovative PR and communications programs and tools by companies, organizations and agencies.

EDC also won various other Gold and Silver Anvils in both PR program and PR tool categories for its projects such as the Positive Energy Negros Facebook page, the #MaketheShift geothermal energy advocacy, BINHI national greening legacy program, GeoSkwela youth dialogue on sustainability, OMGeo eco-tourism vlog series, and CSR initiatives under the Mt. Apo Foundation Inc. (MAFI) as well as the organization’s 25th anniversary coffee table book.