GOINGS ON

Lopez-led geothermal leader Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has successfully completed its population survey of 35 threatened native species of trees under its Binhi program.

Binhi is the company’s flagship forest restoration program that has been bridging forest gaps and bringing back to abundance 96 threatened Philippine native trees in its areas of operation and in other parts of the country with the help of its 177 partners for over 11 years now.

To date, EDC has already reforested 9,372 hectares and has planted six million native tree seed seedlings since 2009.

EDC president and chief operating officer Richard B. Tantoco said the completion of the target 35 tree species for the population survey from 2016 to 2019 under a partnership with the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources-biodiversity Management Bureau Adopt-a-wildlife Species Program is part of its commitment to protecting the environment along with its efforts to provide uninterrupted clean, renewable power.

For 2020, EDC will continue to pursue strategic partnerships to establish additional arboretum across its project sites and continue developing propagation protocols for its 96 priority threatened species in partnership with academic institutions and the government.

If there are lessons learned during this pandemic season, one of them is the importance of food security—from planting, sourcing, processing, delivery, up to the preparation of food for the family at home. Thus, people all over the world see the value in producing one’s food or devoting more time and efforts in food production. The importance of food will be more highlighted as the “new normal” becomes the way of life.

“Even before the pandemic, CCA (Center for Culinary Arts) Manila has already been equipping students with the principles of food security. In fact, we are starting to offer our groundbreaking course—the Diploma in Culinary Agripreneurship, which combines the best teachings of agriculture with the best practices of entrepreneurship, with emphasis on food security,” said Bea Trinidad, corporate communications and PR manager of CCA Manila.

Thus, CCA Manila, as the country’s top culinary school, only partnered with the best of the best in terms of the Culinary Agripreneurship program.

With CCA Manila as lead, the Diploma in Culinary Agripreneurship merges best culinary practices and valuable lessons in agriculture to increase employment and upgrade agriculture.

For inquiries about the program, message us on Facebook.com/ccamanila. Call 0917-8408400 or email: talktous@cca-manila.edu.ph.

It’s not just men working at the Malampaya offshore platform that’s on-board chartered flights between Manila and Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

Since March 24, Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) has also been transporting swab samples for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing as requested by the provincial government through the Palawan Provincial Health Office. There are no testing facilities for COVID-19 in Palawan.

SPEX operates the Malampaya Deep Water Gasto-power project, which fuels natural gas power plants that provide about 40 percent of Luzon’s power generation requirements.

When Luzon was declared under enhanced community quarantine last March 17, air travel was suspended, requiring SPEX to seek the help of the Department of Energy and the local government of Puerto Princesa for an exemption so that Malampaya crew could travel from their homes in Manila to Puerto Princesa City, their jump-off point to the platform located 50 kilometers offshore northwest Palawan, and vice versa every two weeks.