TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Sept. 23 (PIA) -- Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado is offering investors in solar power some 1760 hectares for solar farms and its proposed tree planting component.

Speaking during the Kick-Off of the One For Trees Watershed Improved for Sustainable Environment (OFT-WISE) and Coastal Watershed Improved for Sustainable Environment (COASTWISE) at the new Capitol, Aumentado welcomed One Meralco Foundation which is implementing its corporate social responsibility project here despite having no business operations in Bohol.

Along with a local non-government organization called Participatory Research and Organization of Communities for Education towards Struggle for Self-reliance (PROCESS) Bohol, One Meralco is planting 100,000 trees in Bohol in the next three years.

Of these, 50,000 would be upland trees in the areas of the Carood Watershed which was devastated by Typhoon Odette in 2021, while 50,000 mangroves would be planted in the coastal areas of five towns in eastern Bohol which have been first hit by the waves and winds brought about by storms.

Led by One Meralco Foundation President Jeffrey Tarayao, the One Meralco team and PROCESS are “partnering with people’s organizations in the areas to put up the activities designed to achieve the goal while positively responding to the church’s call for Seasons of Creation,” said PROCESS Executive Director Aurelio Salgados Jr.

Meralco, the largest private sector electric distribution utility company in the country and committed to providing reliable and affordable energy, is serving 36 cities and 75 towns and owns over half of the country’s electricity output.

With Bohol seeking investors who could provide the much-needed power requirement here, the governor asked One Meralco to tell their officials that Bohol can provide the space for them should they put up solar farms here.

“Tell your bosses, we are offering a space somewhere in Ubay. It’s 1,760 hectares. I want to invite power players here,” said Aumentado.

He said he also invited Enrique Razon, Ayala and Aboitiz, offering a spot in the same space in Ubay.

He shared that out of the same area, he wants not just solar farms but tree plantations as well. 

One Meralco Foundation has been putting up small solar power packages for their School Electrification Projects (SEP) with the Department of Education in the islands off northeastern Bohol.

“These are welcome additions to all our initiatives. We definitely need partners who will help make Bohol grow an environment conducive to business and development,” the governor said.

While One Meralco Foundation set up solar power for Gaus Elementary School and Juanito Paula Cruse High School in Gaus Island and Maomawan Elementary School, all in Bien Unido, the company’s employees association also pooled resources to turn over LED televisions, laptops, and printers for the energized schools. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)