DAVAO CITY —Hedcor aims to further the community development of Bakun Municipality in Benguet through its Php5,000,000.00 worth of financial assistance.
This came about after Hedcor was granted a Certification Precondition (CP) by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for the continued operation of its Bakun hydro plants, which will provide another 25 years of continued benefits for the Bakun IP community in Benguet.
“Bakun has been our partner for development in the past 30 years, and we want to further grow with them for the years to come. We embrace their support in the smooth operation of our 12.4MW Bakun hydro power plants,” says Rolando Pacquiao, Hedcor President and COO.
Strengthen partnerships with Bakun and IPs
Pacquiao furthered that this agreement is a step forward in advancing the welfare and interest of the Bakun community. Hedcor will continually strive to not only pioneer renewable energy generation but to also bring about progress in Bakun. Every move and decision this partnership of Hedcor has with Bakun, the locals’ well-being will be prioritized.
Said CP confirmed the approval of the NCIP en banc commissioners to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) entered by Hedcor with the Bakun Indigenuos Tribal Organization (BITO).
It can be recalled that the Bakun domain testified its commitment to a stronger partnership with Hedcor through a MOA signing on December 27, 2021, led by BITO Chairman Mario Morales and then Hedcor AVP for Special Projects, Rey Rafael. Moreso, a ceremonial signing and Canao followed on January 13 which was attended by the entire BITO tribe, Hedcor, and NCIP-CAR. The said MOA is supplemental to the FPIC-MOA signed last October 15, 2019.
As earlier disclosed, the Bakun community will collectively receive aggregated mandatory shares, voluntary benefits, and projects. These include the DOE government shares, ER 1-94 funds, royalty shares and projects outlined in the signed 2019 FPIC-MOA, and the supplemental benefits agreed upon in the negotiation last July 28, 2021.
The agreement of the Bakun LGU and BITO leaders to combine the benefit shares from Hedcor’s LGU voluntary MOA proposal and the supplemental benefits to the BITO paved the way for the simultaneous resolution of the LGU concerns and also addressing the requests of the IP community.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) took a big role in engaging Hedcor and Bakun IP elders together.
