The Alsons Power Group’s Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) Community Watershed Protection and Development Project in Maasim, Sarangani Province received praise from the regional head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
The SEC Watershed Protection Project is one of the largest in the country covering an area of 7, 500 hectares, larger than Manila and nearly twice the size of Makati City.
The project is located in the vicinity of SEC’s 210 mega-watt baseload thermal power plant and aims to provide forest cover for the Siguil and Kamanga River watersheds.
The watershed protection project, currently managed by the Alcantara Foundation, also provides livelihood to more than 500 families belonging to the Bl’aan and T’boli indigenous communities in the uphill areas of Maasim, Sarangani.
“The synergy you have in collectively protecting our environment is something to be proud of and should be emulated in the region and the rest of the country,” said DENR EMB regional director Omar Saikol before the power firm’s executives, its partners and the community when he visited the project site at Datal Basak, Barangay Kablacan Maasim recently.
Ruben Tungpalan, Alsons Power vice president for Corporate Affairs and Community Relations said the Sarangani Energy Watershed Protection Project exemplifies the “group’s steadfast commitment to empowering our host communities through ensuring the preservation and protection of the environment and helping provide livelihood to our partners in the Bláan and T’boli communities.”
The SEC thermal power plant in Maasim provides power to Sarangani Province, General Santos City and other areas of Mindanao. Alsons Power is Mindanao’s first private sector power generator with a current portfolio of four power facilities serving over eight million people in 14 cities and 11 provinces in the country’s second largest island.
