The Philippine National Oil Company Energy Development Corporation (PNOC EDC) was a subsidiary of the Philippine national Oil Company, created in 1976 to provide viable solutions to increasing the nation's potential to produce indigenous energy while diminishing its dependence on imported fuel.
The CEO and President of PNOC EDC was Paul A. Aquino. He was the brother of former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., and uncle of Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, III, who served as the President of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. Paul is also the father of the present Philippine Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino, IV.
PNOC EDC was the Philippines' largest geothermal producer and the acknowledged global leader in wet steamfield technology. The company provides for about 60% of our nation's total installed geothermal energy capacity, supplying fuel to 12 power plants. One out of every eight Philippine households get its electricity from the company.
The firm considered itself as part of the communities where it does business and participated in their development. The company ensured balance between its operations and the community interests with strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs on environmental protection as early as 1978 and local community development by 1987.
From 1992 to 2005, it has paid P1.6 billion in royalties to the local government of its host communities. A total of P497 million went to the funding of local livelihood, electrification environmental, and other related developmental projects.
The CSR case of the PNOC EDC was one of the cases discussed during our De La Salle University, Master of Business Administration class on Leadership, Ethics and CSR. This case is also of interest for me as currently, one of my clients is the other subsidiary of the PNOC which is the PNOC Exploration Corporation (PNOC EC). According to their website (www.pnoc-ec.com.ph), the PNOC EC is the upstream oil, gas and coal subsidiary of the state owned Philippine National Oil Company. A government owned and controlled corporation, the firm was incorporated on April 20, 1976 and is mandated by the state through the Department of Energy to lead the exploration, development and production of the Philippines' oil, gas and coal resources.
The PNOC EDC case was an equity issue which started when a staff from the head office at Bonifacio Global City in Makati wondered aloud if the P600,000 being considered as budget for the energy camps to be run in 2007 for the teenage children in the host communities of the company's project sites could be spent instead for the benefit of the firm's workforce rather than for other people. Another employee remarked " after all, charity begins at home" and also felt that PNOC EDC is spending too much for the people around the company's geothermal sites.
The CEO and President, Paul Aquino rationalized: "But which is home? Is home what is within the confines of these walls, or this building within the PNOC complex here in Fort Bonifacio?
Doesn't home include the communities where the company draws energy? The communities have given us so much of their natural resources, it is important that we share some of our own resources with them. True, P600,000 is considerable. But we should not forget that is it only a fraction of our total gross. Besides, if we used the amount for employee benefits, it would be divided among so many employees and the benefit that each employee would get would be a measly sum. But the same amount spent for the camps organized for the community folk would mean a lot to them. In most cases, there is no government where our geothermal plants are. In those places PNOC EDC has become the government."
Since 2004, the firm has been running energy camps and the pilot camp was set up in Dumaguete. The first batch of campers consisted of 16 boys and 16 girls, all children of employees. The staff of the Community Partnership Department (CPD) handles the camp with help from employee volunteers. The participants engaged in sports and in the routine chores of daily life. Physical activities included hiking, rappelling, swimming and sports like tae kwon do, volleyball and basketball. Lectures on the environment, nature trips and tree planting were conducted to show campers the value of environment protection.
Campers were made to interact with local farmers and townsfolk to give them better understanding of how the community create sustainable livelihood programs while taking care of the environment. A tour and lecture on the geothermal plants and its operations were conducted to impart to the participants the value of clean and renewable energy. The day was highlighted by an amazing race around the camp. The program took 12 days.
Due to the success of the pilot camp, in 2005 the firm opened 5 camps for 48 children from the host community with a new team of employee volunteers who took over running the camps.
In 2006, the activities were conducted for a 10 days to include ballroom dancing and fine dining to improve the social graces of the campers. Upon return to their respective schools, the participants shared their fun stories and great learning experiences which inspired their teachers to request for invitations to go to the camps. Thus, on May 2006, a five day parallel camp activities were conducted for the teachers, with total expenses amounting to P400,000.
After three energy camps and other CSR programs conducted by the firm, some personnel at the head office began questioning the wisdom of providing subsidy for the camps.
As the energy camp is the brain child of Aquino, who wanted to initiate a program that would ensure fun and experiential learning for the youth, Aquino then thought of getting the buy- in of the PNOC EDC head office employees by including and sending also their children to the energy camps to address the inequity issue. He said that, " we envisioned a program where teenagers can learn about life, the environment and geothermal energy as they all have fun. All these, we hope that they can pass on to others when they go back to their families and communities."
Through this move of Aquino, he was able to hit two birds with one stone by giving back to the community in their project sites and by ensuring equity between the home office and the plant sites. He was able to explain well to all the stakeholders the value of sharing their blessings not only within the firm but also to the townsfolk at their community project sites. The children coming home from the energy camps got to know the people from the project sites, experienced how good the PNOC EDC as a company and brought good will to both the children in the community and the children of the head office employees in Manila.
On November 29, 2007, PNOC EDC was fully privatized after the successful sale of 60% of its controlling stakes and and sold to the Lopez-led group of Red Vulcan Holdings Corporation with the highest bid of P58.5 billion. It is now known as the ENERGY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION.
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| Paul A. Aquino, CEO and President of PNOC EDC Photo Credit: www.geni.com |
PNOC EDC was the Philippines' largest geothermal producer and the acknowledged global leader in wet steamfield technology. The company provides for about 60% of our nation's total installed geothermal energy capacity, supplying fuel to 12 power plants. One out of every eight Philippine households get its electricity from the company.
The firm considered itself as part of the communities where it does business and participated in their development. The company ensured balance between its operations and the community interests with strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs on environmental protection as early as 1978 and local community development by 1987.
From 1992 to 2005, it has paid P1.6 billion in royalties to the local government of its host communities. A total of P497 million went to the funding of local livelihood, electrification environmental, and other related developmental projects.
The CSR case of the PNOC EDC was one of the cases discussed during our De La Salle University, Master of Business Administration class on Leadership, Ethics and CSR. This case is also of interest for me as currently, one of my clients is the other subsidiary of the PNOC which is the PNOC Exploration Corporation (PNOC EC). According to their website (www.pnoc-ec.com.ph), the PNOC EC is the upstream oil, gas and coal subsidiary of the state owned Philippine National Oil Company. A government owned and controlled corporation, the firm was incorporated on April 20, 1976 and is mandated by the state through the Department of Energy to lead the exploration, development and production of the Philippines' oil, gas and coal resources.
The PNOC EDC case was an equity issue which started when a staff from the head office at Bonifacio Global City in Makati wondered aloud if the P600,000 being considered as budget for the energy camps to be run in 2007 for the teenage children in the host communities of the company's project sites could be spent instead for the benefit of the firm's workforce rather than for other people. Another employee remarked " after all, charity begins at home" and also felt that PNOC EDC is spending too much for the people around the company's geothermal sites.
The CEO and President, Paul Aquino rationalized: "But which is home? Is home what is within the confines of these walls, or this building within the PNOC complex here in Fort Bonifacio?
Doesn't home include the communities where the company draws energy? The communities have given us so much of their natural resources, it is important that we share some of our own resources with them. True, P600,000 is considerable. But we should not forget that is it only a fraction of our total gross. Besides, if we used the amount for employee benefits, it would be divided among so many employees and the benefit that each employee would get would be a measly sum. But the same amount spent for the camps organized for the community folk would mean a lot to them. In most cases, there is no government where our geothermal plants are. In those places PNOC EDC has become the government."
Since 2004, the firm has been running energy camps and the pilot camp was set up in Dumaguete. The first batch of campers consisted of 16 boys and 16 girls, all children of employees. The staff of the Community Partnership Department (CPD) handles the camp with help from employee volunteers. The participants engaged in sports and in the routine chores of daily life. Physical activities included hiking, rappelling, swimming and sports like tae kwon do, volleyball and basketball. Lectures on the environment, nature trips and tree planting were conducted to show campers the value of environment protection.
Campers were made to interact with local farmers and townsfolk to give them better understanding of how the community create sustainable livelihood programs while taking care of the environment. A tour and lecture on the geothermal plants and its operations were conducted to impart to the participants the value of clean and renewable energy. The day was highlighted by an amazing race around the camp. The program took 12 days.
Due to the success of the pilot camp, in 2005 the firm opened 5 camps for 48 children from the host community with a new team of employee volunteers who took over running the camps.
In 2006, the activities were conducted for a 10 days to include ballroom dancing and fine dining to improve the social graces of the campers. Upon return to their respective schools, the participants shared their fun stories and great learning experiences which inspired their teachers to request for invitations to go to the camps. Thus, on May 2006, a five day parallel camp activities were conducted for the teachers, with total expenses amounting to P400,000.
After three energy camps and other CSR programs conducted by the firm, some personnel at the head office began questioning the wisdom of providing subsidy for the camps.
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| Energy Camp 2007 - Batch 1 of PNOC-BACMAN Energy Camp held in Bacman Geothermal Production Field last April 2007. Photo Credit: Manny Ferrer |
Through this move of Aquino, he was able to hit two birds with one stone by giving back to the community in their project sites and by ensuring equity between the home office and the plant sites. He was able to explain well to all the stakeholders the value of sharing their blessings not only within the firm but also to the townsfolk at their community project sites. The children coming home from the energy camps got to know the people from the project sites, experienced how good the PNOC EDC as a company and brought good will to both the children in the community and the children of the head office employees in Manila.
On November 29, 2007, PNOC EDC was fully privatized after the successful sale of 60% of its controlling stakes and and sold to the Lopez-led group of Red Vulcan Holdings Corporation with the highest bid of P58.5 billion. It is now known as the ENERGY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION.
I was one of the campers from that Energy Camp 2007 - Batch 1 in the photo, I was from the host community in Manito and one of the PNOC EDC scholars from 2005-2008. This camp taught me a lot and up to now I still carry with me the values and lessons I learned about taking care of the environment, geothermal energy and about life in general through this camp. It was really beneficial for us and I salute this initiative from the former CEO of PNOC-EDC. I am just so grateful to experience this rare opportunity and we really appreciate this effort. How the CEO stand up and defended the equity issue related to this is commendable and we are beyond grateful.
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