Village Island of Tigtabon, Zamboanga City welcomes U.S. Ambassador and Senate Staff Delegation

U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and U.S. Senate Staff delegation were welcomed with no less than the Filipinos’ world-renowned hospitality when the team came to visit the island on January 11, 2008.

Congressional delegation head Paul Grove travelled in Tigtabon, an island village in southern city of Zamboanga, to witness the implementation of the rural electrification initiatives of the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE), a program established in 2002, jointly implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Energy, former Mirant Philippines Foundation, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Winrock International.

The whole village, led by representatives of the village association known as Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA), welcomed the delegation and demonstrated how the community operates and maintains the solar home renewable energy systems.

In 2004, the AMORE program installed street lighting, 30 solar home systems, rainwater catchment facility and distance education projects in Tigtabon. Since then, beneficiaries have enjoyed the benefits of said projects.

AMORE has been doing off-grid electrification for five years now and their contribution to rural electrification in off-grid areas reached 42 percent in the ARMM. To date, AMORE has lighted approximately 400 barangays, bringing electricity to over 12,000 households using renewable energy technology like PV solar home and hydro-electric systems. USAID has provided over $18 million dollars to the program’s solar system requirements.

The Mirant Philippines Foundation has supported AMORE through donations of over $5 million. Late last year, the DoE has provided 30 million pesos for the electrification of 100 remote barangays in ARMM that covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-tawi, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan and the cities of Marawi and Isabela.

The 30 million peso allocation forms part of a 100 million peso budgetary allocation towards full electrification of off-grid areas in ARMM. The DoE budgetary support will be used to procure solar photovoltaic systems for community facilities such as streetlights, barangay halls, as well as lighting for households.    

AMORE, promotes the use of clean energy sources, and has mitigated at least 2,255 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. “As what we have cited before, this figure may be small but holds significant impact in the global scene,” Cruz-Capellan said.

Experts reported that the Philippines present emission level, as calculated by the World Wildlife Fund, totaled   47 million tones in 2001. Five years hence, in 2006, emissions increased threefold hitting about 309 million tons.