Powering progress: AboitizPower’s ESG win
The Inquirer Group of Companies (IGC) reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability with the first Inquirer ESG Edge Impact Awards 2025, honoring outstanding projects from publicly listed firms, large companies, and MSMEs that champion environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.
AboitizPower emerged as one of the top winners, earning two awards for initiatives that highlight its corporate governance and community relations efforts. Its entry “Transforming Energy for a Better World” won gold in Governance (reporting and transparency), while “Lighting the Path to Progress” earned silver in Social (relations with local communities).
AboitizPower’s purpose is Transforming Energy for a Better World by advancing businesses and communities through power generation, distribution, and retail electricity services. It said that its corporate governance framework is rooted in the values of integrity, teamwork, innovation, responsibility, and service excellence, being institutionalized in its governance policies and serving as the cornerstone for achieving strategic objectives and ambitious growth aspirations.
The Company has a dedicated board-level committee for ESG initiatives. The Board Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Committee is responsible for ensuring the establishment of a governance mechanism that promotes environmental stewardship, social development, and sound corporate governance.
The Board displayed active participation in overseeing and shaping the implementation of the company’s ESG strategies through strengthening anti-bribery and corruption guidelines and promoting sustainable business practices internally and across its whole value chain.
Beyond being an energy solutions provider, AboitizPower recognizes that a Better World can only happen when it strives to co-create sustainable and empowered communities with its stakeholders.
At the same time, AboitizPower has demonstrated its advocacy of community development through its active participation in the Sitio Electrification Program (SEP). Implemented by its subsidiary Davao Light and Power Company in partnership with the national government, SEP has brought electricity to more than 200 remote communities in Davao that once relied on kerosene and other traditional fuels.
By providing energy to rural enclaves, AboitizPower has enhanced quality of life as electrification spurred socio-economic development and helped reduce poverty. Its participation also supports at least two United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 7, which promotes access to affordable and clean energy, and SDG 10, which seeks to reduce inequalities. Energy disparities between urban and rural communities, which hinder economic and social development, are reduced. The program has helped transform remote areas into thriving communities.
In 2023 alone, 117 previously underserved sitios were energized, giving access to electricity to over 2,770 households. On the barangay level, the Davao Light franchise area has already reached 100 percent electrification, higher than the regional average of 81.40 percent among electric cooperatives in the region.
Electrification has enhanced education and economic development. It has enabled schools and students to access digital tools and study better. Peace and order has improved as streets and public areas are better lit while small businesses become more productive and new livelihood opportunities open up because of reliable electricity.
Given the very positive results, AboitizPower aims to expand the number of sitios it powers up each year. About 66 or 1.73 percent of sitios in the Davao Light franchise are still waiting to be energized. The SEP gives AboitizPower a sense of pride. Both company and employees view the program as a genuine demonstration of public service and corporate social responsibility.
The Department of Energy reports that, as of 2023, close to 2.5 million households in the Philippines, or about 8 percent of the population, are still without electricity. They are mostly in sitios within far-flung barangays.
SEP aims to connect these underserved communities to the power grid, provide access to electricity for households and local businesses, improve living conditions in remote areas, support rural development, and promote inclusive development to reduce the gap between urban and rural areas.
