AMBUKLAO, Bokod, Benguet—With the Ambuklao Dam again producing power after it was shut down in 1999, the province of Benguet and this municipality are expecting revenues that will redound to the improvement of the host communities.

The formal inauguration of the Ambuklao hydropower plant, owned and operated by SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP-Benguet), took place on Thursday..

The rehabilitation of the plant, at a cost of $325 million, took three years to complete under SNAP-Benguet.  The plant’s capacity was upgraded to 105 megawatts (MW) of clean energy from the previous 75 MW.

Acting Benguet Gov. Cresencio Pacalso said the continued operation of the dam represents a long-term partnership between the province of Benguet, the municipality of Bokod, as well as the host communities that will lead to development and the establishment of businesses, and added employment to the local population.

Pacalso said that aside from jobs, the rehabilitation of the plant by the company are expected to result in other livelihood and income-generating activities, plus the projects resulting from SNAP-Benguet’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program that benefit the residents and the LGUs of the host communities.

He said; “This early, we have felt the good relationship and partnership that has developed between the company and the host communities.”

Benguet Lone District Rep. Ronald Cosalan said Ambuklao is a pride of Benguets because “of its history, the people’s resentment, as well as their despair.”

Cosalan said when the dam was constructed in the 1950s those who were displaced remained unpaid by the government up to this date. He added that a lot of problems on environment issues and the rights of the indigenous peoples are still unsettled.

Cosalan encouraged SNAP officials “not just to invest on tangible things, but to invest in members of the community” because by doing so, the communities themselves would help protect the huge amount of investment placed on Ambuklao to revive it.

SNAP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Rubio said the inauguration of the power plant as a fully commissioned 105-MW renewable-energy power source is a beginning of a new chapter in the story of Ambuklao.

The plant, he recalled, was commissioned in 1956, decommissioned in 1999, and sustained major damage nine years later when a 7.7-magnitude killer earthquake hit the area.

In 2008 SNAP won the bidding over the rehabilitation of the Binga and Ambuklao dams. In July 2008 massive rehabilitation work commenced.

Eric Knive, executive vice president for Southeast Asia SN Power, added that the project is a marriage between Norwegians, Australians, Filipinos, particularly the Kankanaeys and the Ibalois. “A marriage now exists between the community and the company with the fundamental belief of a sustainable development is agreed upon.”

Jose Alonzo, one of the old employees of the old dam then ran by the former National Power Corp. said they see better days ahead especially with the company running it.

“It’s been three years since they [SNAP] came and they have been extending help to the people here,” he said in Ilocano.

Alvaro Claudio, now 82 years old and one of the first employees when the dam was constructed in the 1950s, said he continues to dream that the people of Bokod and Itogon will continue to benefit from the operations of the company.

He remembers the old Ambuklao reservoir and the power plant, where he worked as a teenager and where he raised his children and grandchildren. He expressed hope that the continued operation of the dam would benefit the children and the coming generations of workers who will help run the dam.

Manong Alvaro was invited by SNAP to grace the reopening of the dam.

On June 1, Ambuklao’s 35-MW Unit 3 turbine commenced commercial operations to the Luzon grid, followed by Units 1 and 2. It was made fully operational and now trading in the whole sale electricity spot market, providing an additional 105-MW power to help fill the country’s increasing demand for electricity.

In Photo: Snap Benguet officials listen to three “mambunong” (high priests) from Benguet who predicted using animal liver the good years for the company and the community during the formal inauguration Oct. 27, 2011 of the Ambuklao hydroelectric power plant acquired by SN Aboitiz Power from PSALM three years back. (Liza Agoot)