3 women leaders help shape Philippine energy shift
In an industry long identified with men in hard hats and corner offices, women at Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGEN) are taking on increasingly prominent roles across the company’s operations.
These span thermal plant control rooms in Cebu to solar parks in Bulacan to the legal strategy that is shaping MGEN’s energy shift.
In particular, three women leaders offer a closer look at what that transformation looks like on the ground.
Lone female at the control room
Cristine Albarando is the lone female control room engineer across MGEN Thermal’s sites in Cebu.
Albarando’s day begins with a toolbox meeting to discuss plant issues and activities, followed by checks of monitors, system parameters and the previous shift’s logbook.
From there, she coordinates continuously: Following up with maintenance, assigning tasks to operators and flagging anything that could affect plant performance.
Engineering was not her original plan, but her father encouraged her to take the path. Albarando says she had no idea what a power facility meant until she studied mechanical engineering.
“Initially I had doubts because I deeply respected the weight of the responsibility. But the management’s trust and support and the encouragement from my colleagues has helped and shaped me to become a leader,” she says.
Albarando adds that what keeps her going is the knowledge that her daily work keeps the lights on at the smallest of houses to major hospitals.
Top seat at a solar park
Jennylene Baluyot, also an engineer, manages MGEN’s 55-megawatt Bulacan solar park.
Before she held that role, she spent years proving she belonged in a field where she was often the only woman on site.
Her workday starts with numbers. Baluyot reviews generation versus target, checks alarms, inverter status and any issues carried over from the previous shift.
She then conducts a site walk-through to verify what the monitoring system is reporting—checking module conditions, equipment status and how weather is affecting output. Those findings sometimes immediately reshape priorities.
Baluyot remembers a high-pressure incident in which a significant portion of the plant went offline during peak solar hours due to an inverter issue. The decision on how to respond was hers.
“Leadership under pressure isn’t about having all the answers instantly. It’s about staying calm, making informed decisions with the data you have and trusting your team,” she says.
“Being a woman leading an entire plant means breaking expectations—both my own and those set by the industry—and proving that leadership is defined by capability, not gender,” she adds. “It’s about showing up every day with confidence, making tough decisions and leading with both strength and empathy.”
Legal strategy for energy transition
Lawyer Maan Ballesteros, meanwhile, serves as MGEN’s chief legal counsel and corporate governance and compliance officer.
Her work spans contracts, regulatory strategy and corporate governance across MGEN’s entire portfolio—thermal, natural gas and renewables.
Growing up, medicine had been her expected path.
But Ballesteros chose differently—pursuing a direction that better fit her strengths. Now, her decisions carry weight across every segment of the company’s operations.
“Legal strategy doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and is rarely purely legal in nature. It means knowing when to ask for help, who to ask, being open to different perspectives and aware of others’ strengths,” she says.
Ballesteros says being a woman has shaped how she approaches challenges—drawing on perspectives and experiences others might overlook, and turning perceived disadvantages into opportunities.
Asked for advice to those who would follow her footsteps, she says: “Creativity has no gender; humility has no gender; persistence has no gender; exuberance has no gender. Protect your self-worth and from that, you can achieve anything.”
For those who are next in line
All three women describe their roles as part of a larger shift, not only within MGEN, but across the Philippine energy sector.
For Baluyot, her presence at the helm of a major facility sends a signal that women can excel in roles once considered out of reach.
She said she hopes younger women see that space exists for them in this field—and that they do not need to wait for permission to claim it.
“They can lead, they can excel and they can belong in this field,” Baluyot says. “And more importantly, they can do it in their own way, bringing their unique strengths with them.”
Albarando reminds every woman that this world “wasn’t made for her,” but it is waiting for her to redesign it.
“I am living proof that our perspective, resilience and skills are exactly what the future of energy requires,” she says. “Step in, take up space, and remember that by building your career here, you are lighting the path for every girl who will come after you.”
