SNAP Benguet, Hedcor update Baguio media in January Yuletide meet

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

It was never late, yet never too early for Christmas because it is one exceptional occasion that should be felt and thought of everyday. This was so when an unusual Yuletide dinner cum drink and sing-along party was held last week of the first month of 2013, sponsored by the SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Power Corp. (SNAP-Benguet) and Hedcor for the Baguio media.

I looked at the January invitation as a more sensible thing considering that one’s attendance or availability may not be guaranteed if the get-together with media was programmed in December, a month known for holding all kinds of celebrations aside from Christmas. The boys and girls of the local media were more lucky and blessed as the night overflowed with beer.

For semi-retired media personality Domecio Cimatu, Northern Philippine Times publisher Alfred Dizon and I, we were less fortunate because we did not see brandy on our table, nor were there any “Find dador” bottles in the ballroom of City Lites. But as usual, newsmen always find solutions to their problems, so that somebody had to run to the nearest store to buy medicine and poison for the non-beer drinking guys.

Noticeably, as part of the SOP, updated reports of what had gone through the years were presented Hedcor president Rene Ronquillo, lawyer Mike Hosillos, VP for Corp. Services of SNAP and SNAP Group CEO Emmanuel Rubio; not to forget Engr. Chris Faelner, Hedcor Sr. VP; Norwegian Kjell Valdal, Chief Technology Officer of the SNAP Group; and Engr. Manny Lopez, the plant manager of both Binga and Ambuclao plants; along with an able staff who mingled with their media partners and made the night comfortable for all. It was a night of fresh information amid beer bottles.

In his update, CEO Rubio said, the Ambuclao plant had contributed real property taxes for Bokod in the amount of P61.3M since it started full operations in 2011. For Binga plant, SNAP Group CEO Rubio said, it had generated real property taxes of at least P22.2M for Itogon. Both Binga and Ambuclao plants were 2012 SMILE Awardees for their respective 2011 safety records. Ambuclao was the Silver Awardee for Best Power Plant Upgrade in the Asian Power Awards, while Binga plant was the DOLE Secretary’s Award of Distinction – GawadKaligtasan at Kalusugan for 2012.

By the way, Binga plant’s previous generation capacity of 100 MW has been increased to 125 MW. The first of the four units of the Binga HEP complex in Barangay Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet has been allowed to operate after it got its certificate of compliance for its new 31.45 MW Unit 1 last year.

As a young kid in the mid sixties, I had a special attachment to Ambuclao and Binga, not that my mother traces her roots to Bokod and Itogon where most of her blood relatives are, but because my father was part of the team that constructed both hydro-electric dams in the 50s under the Guy Atkinson Co. After construction in 1956, then President Ramon Magsaysay who was a mechanic by profession, commissioned the Ambuclao hydro-electric plant.

It is the biggest rock-filled dam in Asia and considered one of the biggest projects that occurred in the mountainous area in the Cordillera at a time when big constructions were not a common sight. In due course, many of those employed by Guy Atkinson Co. were absorbed into the workforce of the newly created National Power Corporation of Binga and Ambuclao.

I narrated to Engr. Manny Lopez, SNAP plant manager for Binga and Ambuclao that my father Samuel made us proud as he was part of the team responsible in maintaining plant production when he, at one time or another, headed the mechanical department at Binga. Unfortunately in 1964, their jeep rolled down a 300-meter cliff at the erosion-prone Guisset road during a strong typhoon. He was with three other NPC employees.

I can say that these guys sacrificed their lives during their stint with NPC. Looking back to the past, it seemed like inexperience put one on local officials at that time, lacking proper connections to negotiate for or how their lands that were eventually submerged in the name of electricity and development, would be compensated.

More than 50 years today, a good number of Ambuclao and Binga landowners, my family included, have yet to collect from GOVERNMENT what is due them. This historical experience served as the lesson for our tribal brothers in Mt. Province who immediately opposed the construction of a dam across the Chico River. That, however, is another story.

The presentation of Hedcor CEO Rene Ronquillo was indeed refreshing as it gave the media information that the Aboitiz Power subsidiary that generates renewable energy from run-of-river systems now manages around 19 hydro-power plants in the country, 12 of which are in Benguet, including Bakun Hydro that is located near the boundary of Alilem, Ilocos Sur.

Two more hydro plants are undergoing construction in Davao del Sur, and one more run-of-river system will soon operate in Sabangan by March of this year, according to Hedcor pres. Ronquillo. I was unable to write down how much LGU income in taxes has Hedcor contributed to its host communities. I also wanted to find out how much would a certain LGU’s income be if it owned the run-of-river system and had it operated by a private firm such as Hedcor, which is entirely a different situation from the present situation of owning and operating, and simply paying what is due the host community.

After all the power-point presentations, all those in attendance, especially Frank Cimatu of the Baguio Chronicle, switched back to their normal tipsy characters. The “sing the missing line” portion of the merry-making was highlighted with the participation of CEO Rubio and Sr. VP Faelnar, with the latter almost always singing the wrong lyrics and eventually being corrected by the former.

I told Atty. Mike Hosillos, “mahirap mauna sa kantahan kas imakikitang huli kung ano yung dapat na corrections.” But that is exactly what I saw in people connected to power generation: they have seen the mistakes in the past that were committed by power generation companies previously operated by government, studied them and have been correcting them. I just hope this continues. I wish too that Baguio admits it has committed grave mistakes in operating the Asin Hydro. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com