ORMOC CITY – It was beyond imagination that the world’s largest wet steam field straddling in the town of Kananga and this city would sustain a very challenging operation following its humble beginnings 40 years ago.
It was long before a worldwide call against climate change and global warming when the Philippine government initiated a journey of securing long-term plans for renewable energy.
Then PNOC Energy Development Corporation (PNOC EDC) Leyte’s Tongonan geothermal power plant (TGPP) answered the quest for futuristic thinking as it started a challenging exploration in the volcanic steam-rich mountains of Ormoc and Kananga in the early 70’s.
Its early stages can be traced when the Philippine government created the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC) as directed by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 334, “to provide and maintain an adequate and stable supply of oil and petroleum products for domestic requirements”.
With this, explorations commenced to discover indigenous energy sources in the country in response to the global oil crisis during that time. After several years of intensive study works, the Tongonan-1 geothermal power plant was inaugurated on July 02, 1983.
From a rated capacity of 112.5 megawatts (MW), Tongonan-1’s yearly gross energy generation ranged from 200 to 400 gigawatt-hours (GWH), marked by an increase to 600 GWH in the 1990s—a boon during a dark period in the country’s history that was marked by frequent power outages.
The use of indigenous energy sources in the country also increased from a mere 5 percent in 1970 to over 50 percent by 2005, in which the Tongonan geothermal power plant (TGPP) undeniably plays a remarkable role in boosting renewable energy in the Philippines’ energy mix.
First Gen Corporation of the Lopez Group acquired PNOC- EDC through a bidding process in 2007 and gave birth to what is known today as the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), which owns the Leyte geothermal facility.
It has a current base load capacity of 711 megawatts and supplies more than 30% of the country’s installed electricity demand.
EDC’s TGPP makes the country proud for receiving numerous recognitions globally for its four decades of well-maintained, demand-responsive, and sustainable operations, surpassing the usual 25-year life span of geothermal systems.
Currently, TGPP has 31 production wells and nine reinjection wells. Tongonan geothermal field is one of the few geothermal fields worldwide that has achieved a milestone of continued production for 40 years.
EDC’s regenerative strategy and environmental conservation efforts were institutionalized through BINHI, its flagship regreening program seeking to propagate endangered, indigenous tree species in order to protect and grow water reservoirs that are critical to geothermal energy production.
The company also launched in 2009 a parallel program on education by inaugurating a foundation to provide technical training (tech-voc) skills to poor but deserving out-of-school youths from its host areas for free.
The KEITECH Foundation, Inc. (KEITECH) has been producing employable workers since 2009 in the fields of construction, metals and engineering, and tourism and hospitality.
Prior to KEITECH, the company adopted and supported two primary and intermediate schools of the Department of Education, particularly from its host barangays of Tongonan, Kananga and Ormoc called ‘schools for excellence’ which provided instructional materials, school supplies, uniforms, and lunch until the launching of the foundation.
At present, several KEITECH beneficiaries are already good earners locally and abroad who also have granted their wishes of extending financial help to their respective families.
For now, EDC has opened new opportunities to the poor out-of-school youth through its SIKAT program, a 4-year college scholarship to the most deserving students in its partner communities.
The program started in 2005 with 5 scholars every year until we shifted to careers/ Sikat in 2011 with 30 students currently enrolled.
There were also several livelihood assistance programs extended to its host local government units.
And during disasters such as Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Tongonan served as a reliable home base for EDC’s community support and disaster relief operations.
On its 40th anniversary this year, Tongonan continues to bring distinction to the Philippines as one of the few existing geothermal fields in the world.
Tongonan is the world’s 3rd largest geothermal producer as its Tongonan facility continually provides a reliable supply of clean power to the Luzon and Visayas regions for over four decades now.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
ASEAN and the Community Colleges
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
(This is the speech given by this Public Servant as the President Association of Local Community Colleges and Universities Region 8 in the CHED -ASEAN Month Closing Ceremonies. The Speech is an illustration of how Community Colleges compliments ASEAN in becoming Epicentrum of Growth in the Region).
GUEST of Honor, Honorable Maximo C. Aljibe , SUC Presidents and OFFICIALS, President and Officials of the Private HEIs, our Host St Paul School of Professional Studies …
Education is a powerful transformative force in the lives of ASEAN peoples. Thus inclusive and quality education is key to the sustainable development of the region. Quality education leads to better health outcomes, higher social capital, peaceful and gender-equal societies, and decent work opportunities. It prepares ASEAN’s human resources to be resilient, competitive and ready to face an ever-changing future.
The region’s expanding demand for skilled workers is one important element highlighting the connection and relevance of community colleges in ASEAN. As ASEAN member countries strive for economic advancement and development, there is a growing demand for a skilled workforce with technical knowledge and manual abilities. Community colleges, with their emphasis on vocational and technical education, provide the training needed to meet this need. Through relevant programs in fields such as hospitality, information technology, and arts and sciences, criminology, community colleges provide students with practical skills that enable them to be competent, analytical, resilient, environmentally responsive, and service-oriented individuals (the Abuyog College mantra). Having said that, it immediately adds to the region’s workforce and economic growth. Together with Burauen Community College, Collegio de las Navas the new Catbalogan City College , Ormoc City College and other Community Colleges ably and competently answers the need of the people.
Community colleges provide an inclusive and accessible education pathway for students who may not have the financial or educational resources to attend major universities or may have been out of the quota numbers.
Perhaps what we in the Local Colleges can offer is an education pathway that is direct to the archipelagic roots, as our recent graduation vividly demonstrated. The hundred rough hands with which we shook hands were testament to the hard knocks of life they endured just to send their children to college. During my more than 200 days at Abuyog Community College, we hosted two Testimonial Dinners, both of which were attended by the Dynamic Regional Director Dr. Max Aljibe as our Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker . Hundreds of professionals and from all walks of life, some as old as 60, some single parents, persons with disabilities, and former persons deprived of liberty were honored. As Board Passers, they can be positive contributors to society’s welfare.
Notable among these are stories of triumph, despite the high expense of tuition because we are a paying college, but more than that, the Testimonials are also resonances of thankfulness because the college was also a member of UNIFAST for three years, and the recipients appreciate and redundantly acknowledges this fact.
Perhaps it is reasonable to say that our hearts, and perhaps our souls, are in the right place.
In all. Community Colleges like ours are united in our collaboration endeavors, CDN and BCC compare and the newly established Community Colleges allow free flow of expertise such as our librarian exchange and resources access both online and hard copy book holdings aside from forging real connections, just like the symbolic and real connection of ASEAN countries. As President Jett Quebec of Burauen Community College can attest, we are separated by locations but our hearts are intertwined, in service to our students, as my EVP Asuncion Villote frequently quotes we serve THE LAST, THE LEAST, and THE LOST, yet on the peripheral areas we are there catering too and assisting these persons accomplish their dreams nurturing their delicate caterpillars to become magnificent butterflies.
We give these people, strewn throughout a vast swath of unfavorable realities, the ability to dream and equip them with genuine skills and aptitude to achieve these ambitions. In saying this, it cannot be done without the capable assistance of our partners and regulators at the Commission on Higher Education our partners State Colleges and Universities . We will not jokingly request the COPC Issuance, we will toe the line and subject ourselves to the process and wait for the proper time and compliance state whenever it may come, we will comply and then it will be a victory that the thousands of our students and stakeholders we serve will savor .
After all, a quality assured college education is a right that every college student and we try our best every single day to provide nothing less than that .
Thank you very much and good day!!