Photo 1: SNAP CEO Joseph Yu leads the SNAP-Benguet management and team members at their 15th anniversary celebration on July 10, 2023

For the past 15 years, SN Aboitiz Power-Benguet (SNAP-Benguet) has been generating renewable, reliable, and responsible energy and providing meaningful opportunities in the communities where it operates. Since 2008, SNAP-Benguet has helped meet the country’s growing electricity demand with its two plants, the 112.5-megawatt (MW) Ambuklao and 140-MW Binga hydros. Over the years, the company has marked several milestones, beginning with the re-operation of the Ambuklao plant, which came back online in 2011. SNAP has made additional operational improvements, including the refurbishment of the Binga plant from 100 to 140 MW, and most recently, the successful uprating of Ambuklao’s capacity from 105 to 112.5 MW. “SNAP-Benguet should continue to provide light, but not just light from the power, but to be a light beacon in other people’s lives and the community,” said Benguet Governor Melchor Diclas through his executive assistant, David Cabuted, who attended the celebration on July 10, 2023. The company’s initiatives on a wide range of causes, from healthcare to education to environmental conservation among others have resulted in tangible positive social change in its host communities in Benguet. The company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and community investment initiatives have supported 480 projects worth around PhP200 million in the past 15 years. SNAP’s education program, BRIGHTS (Bridging Gaps in Higher Education through Tertiary Scholarships), continues to help deserving students with limited financial resources realize their dreams. Jasmin Montes, a BRIGHTS graduate, has recently joined SNAP-Benguet, demonstrating how the organization enables underprivileged students to achieve their full potential and to create a more meaningful life for themselves. “I am a living testament to their [SNAP’s] success. I built my future because of them. Salamat ja Pasiya, SNAP-Benguet,” Montes said. As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability, the company has planted 183,615 seedlings with a 93% survival rate along the Ambuklao-Binga watershed, and this year embarked on an avifauna assessment to support the conservation efforts of its host communities in order to ensure it remains a protected environment for endemic species. Since 2008, the company has made safety a priority and guiding principle to ensure that employees are free from harm. The Ambuklao and Binga plants have recorded 5.38 million man hours with no lost-time incidents since 2012 and 2013, respectively. Additionally, the company has consistently been recognized for occupational safety and health. Lauded for its workplace safety initiatives by the Gawad Kaligtasan at Kalusugan (GKK) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Safety and Health Association of the Philippine Energy Sector (SHAPES). “Through the partnerships between the company and our stakeholders, we hope to continue our sustainability initiatives and work toward our shared goals,” SNAP President and CEO Joseph Yu said. “As we shape the next fifty years of SNAP-Benguet, I want to thank each and every person who, for the past 15 years, has played a role in making what SNAP-Benguet is today,” he added. “Together with our communities, we are determined to uphold our core values and commitments to driving positive change and energizing a sustainable future.”