Atty Jobert Penaflorida, PCCI Region 6 Governor; Frank Carbon, Area Vice President for Visayas; Maricel Ngo, Region 8 PCCI Governor; Felix Taguiam of Decoline Inc.; MORE Power President and CEO Roel Castro; Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez; Leyte 4th District Congressman Richard Gomez; Quintin Pastrana of WEnergy Power Pilipinas; Carlos Vega of First Gen Corporation; and Twinkle Chu, Host Ormoc City PCCI President.
At the recent 31st Visayas Area Business Conference by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry held in Ormoc City, Leyte, MORE Power wowed the businessmen of the Visayas region with how they turned around the services of electric distribution in Iloilo City in the past 2 years and a half. With a theme “From setbacks to comebacks: Getting business back on track”, MORE President and CEO ROEL Z. CASTRO, one of the invited speakers, discussed the distribution utility’s story and how is it a perfect example of the conference theme which focused on innovations for sustainable energy supply toward a cost-effective and efficient energization. He also talked about the challenges and the things they did to transform not only the system but also the services to consumers. Before an almost thousand delegates, he walked through his presentation on how MORE Power was able to turn around everything coming from a setup with very high system loss, dilapidated and neglected facilities, dangerously overloaded systems, and high electricity rates.
He further pointed out that there was no magic used to be able to experience what Iloilo City consumers enjoy now. “There was no magic but there were five things that we think we have – first is the financial capability because to rehabilitate the facilities, increase capacity and reliability, prepare for automation via a digital platform, and continuously train personnel, we need to invest and we invested over P1.3 billion so far,” Castro initially highlighted.
“The second critical aspect is technical capability. We recruited personnel with a high level of integrity and technical expertise and employed reputable contractors with long technical experience. Next is to have an innovative mindset. Another important factor is to be socially responsible which I think is second nature to MORE Power”, Castro enthusiastically elaborated.
He explain, “We did this by optimizing the use of renewable energy and non-indexed sources, by consciously looking for facility and process solutions that would bring less destruction to the environment, and by constantly inculcating the benefits of sustainability to employees and the other stakeholders.”
The panelist and reactors were Leyte 4th district congressman RICHARD GOMEZ, car
CARLOS VEGA of First Gen Corporation, QUINTIN PASTRANA of WEnergy Power Pilipinas, and FELIX TAGUIAM of Decoline Inc.
Atty. JOBERT PEÑAFLORIDA, Regional Governor of PCCI Region 6, was very ecstatic about the turnout of the business conference. “We are truly proud of Mr. Roel Castro’s presentation on what MORE Power has accomplished for Iloilo City in just a little over two years, they have greatly improved the facilities and services as well as significantly decreased the cost of electricity and they did it all during the pandemic,” Peñaflorida emphasized. He took notice of how all the other chambers in the Visayas wanted to replicate the success story of Iloilo. “More Power’s strides in the power distribution sector are reflective of the continuing efforts of Iloilo to harness public-private partnerships as we all aim to recover together,” he concluded. Iloilo PCCI President FULBERT WOO described MORE Power’s presence in Iloilo as “one of the ideals if not superb”, particularly the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts.
MORE President and CEO Roel Z. Castro speaks before the delegates of the 31st Visayas Area Business Conference by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.