MANILA ELECTRIC Co. (Meralco), through its corporate social development arm One Meralco Foundation (OMF), has energized a livelihood facility in Pilar, Bohol to improve the food processing operations of a cooperative.
In a media release over the weekend, the company said the project involves the installation of a 2.2-kilowatt-per-peak solar photovoltaic (PV) system with a 5.1-kilowatt-hour battery system.
The electrification project seeks to power the operations of Lundag Eskaya Tribe Multipurpose Cooperative, which processes sweet potato or kamote into chips, ketchup, and juice.
“With electricity, we can use the sweet potato chipper and produce one sack of chopped kamote in only an hour,” said Jenelie Sandigan, the cooperative’s learning and enterprise manager. “Now, we can expand our operations to accommodate more and bigger orders because we already have electricity.”
According to Meralco, the use of the electric potato chipper has increased the production of kamote chips to 200 packs a day from 50 packs done manually. This has also enabled the cooperative’s members to increase their daily income to P7,000 from P2,000.
“The community electrification programs of Meralco, through OMF, are our humble contribution to help underprivileged communities improve their lives. By harnessing the power of renewable energy, we can support their livelihood and empower them to be productive contributors to society,” Meralco Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie L. Aperocho said.
The town of Pilar is among the latest beneficiaries of OMF’s electrification and environmental sustainability programs in Bohol province, along with the 18 remote and off-grid island schools that it has energized using solar PV systems in the past years.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
