The Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy Program is pleased to announce the coming on board of Mr. Jesus “Chito” Francisco as the program’s Chief of Party.

Mr. Francisco is a senior power and energy sector specialist with over 40 years of technical and management experience. He spent a total of 38 years in the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), the biggest electric utility in the Philippines, finally serving as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 to 2009. Mr. Francisco is currently the President and CEO of the Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corporation (MIESCOR), the oldest and biggest subsidiary of MERALCO; and President and CEO of Clark Electric Distribution Corporation (CEDC), the franchised electric distributor in the Clark Special Economic Zone and Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.

Aside from his commitment to the above named companies, Mr. Francisco is actively involved as Chairman of the Board of the Haribon Foundation; as trustee of the Preferred Energy, Inc.; as member of the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology; and as Chairman Emeritus of the UP Engineering Research and Development Foundation, Inc.

Mr. Francisco holds bachelor degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the University of the Philippines, and a Master’s Degree in Business Management from the Washington Sycip Graduate School of Business at the Asian Institute of Management. He had also completed a couple of business programs such as the Harvard School’s International Senior Managers Program in Vevey, Switzerland in 1982, and the Strategic Business Economics Program at the University of Asia and the Pacific in 1986.

With Mr. Francisco at the helm of the AMORE Program, more players and stakeholders in the energy industry and the rural development field are seen to join the alliance that brings light through renewable energy sources to remote rural communities.