The priceless Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras is a mark of the proud Ifugao people, bearing witness to 2,000 years of sustainable farming, culture, and people development.
Passed on from generation to generation, farmers still rely on the intricate irrigation network to this day, nurturing tradition, the ecosystem, as well as the community’s livelihood.
Assessing the need to help the indigenous community preserve the rice terraces, SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) came up with a watershed management program called “Partnership in Uplifting Upland Natural Resources, Livelihood, and Assets – Upper Magat Watershed Management Program” or PUNLA-Upper Magat in 2019 to help protect and restore critical watershed areas in Ifugao and boost agricultural productivity.
SNAP is a joint venture between Scatec of Norway and Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) for the operation of large hydropower facilities in Luzon, including the 388 megawatt Magat Hydro in Ifugao.
Covering the Upper Magat Watershed and supporting integrated projects in adjacent municipalities, PUNLA has helped restore stonewalls, establish agroforestry and demonstration farms, provide agricultural and food processing equipment, build forest nurseries and greenhouses, and plant native tree species.
Under the banner of PUNLA, productivity has been reinstated in close to 28 hectares of rice terraces in Mayoyao and approximately six hectares of previously abandoned rice terraces have been rehabilitated. Moreover, over 48 hectares of forest was rehabilitated in Banaue, while a 52-hectare site in Hungduan was reforested.
Through the help of PUNLA in the Cordilleras, the Ifugao Rice Terraces – with its traditions, ecosystems, and livelihoods – can be passed on to the next generation.
Much like PUNLA – which is a Filipino word for “the cultivation of seeds” – AboitizPower hopes that IPs and other host communities will cultivate the seeds it has sown in local development initiatives.
SNAP has remitted over P167-million in community shares since 2018 to the host communities of SNAP-Magat and SNAP-Benguet in compliance with the Philippine government’s Energy Regulations No. 1-94 (ER 1-94) policy.
ER 1-94 is meant to ensure that host communities get a reasonable share of the profit from power plants operating in their area. It states that these communities will receive one centavo for every kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) of electricity generated.
The funds generated by SNAP were used by beneficiaries for the electrification of areas and households; reforestation, watershed management, health, and environment enhancement; and development and livelihood.
Likewise, Hedcor, an AboitizPower renewable energy asset manager, has rightfully allocated royalty shares to fund developmental projects that further the growth and sustainability of ancestral domains within the communities where it operates.
Hedcor has over 45 years of experience in operating renewable energy assets, mostly run-of-river hydropower systems, with facilities in Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, Benguet, Davao, and Bukidnon.
For its support to IP communities in the Davao region, Hedcor was named “Champion forIndigenous Peoples” by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Region XI, cited as “uplifting the lives of IP communities, while respecting and preserving their cultural heritage” and setting “a standard for corporate responsibility.”
