Mount Apo in Mindanao, the highest peak in the Philippines, is also rich in natural resources such as geothermal steam, which can be harnessed to produce electricity. It is also the ancestral domain of the Manobo, one of most historied indigenous peoples (IP) in the country.
The challenge for Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the country’s largest geothermal energy producer, is to make use of the geothermal resource in Mt. Apo for the greater good of millions of Filipino power users while ensuring the sustainable progress of the indigenous community through a CSR program focused on their needs.
Through the Mt. Apo Foundation Inc. (MAFI), EDC successfully developed and implemented long-term capacity-building initiatives in the areas of education, community and environment, and cultural heritage. Such interventions have engaged a total of 70,000 IP residents, producing 258 scholars and rehabilitating 16 hectares of land all for sustainable progress of the IP community.