News

Employees of Lopez-led First Gen Corp. recently conducted a tree planting at the Masungi Georeserve in Baras, Rizal, as part of efforts to rehabilate the reservation area.

Over 50 employees from First Gen’s head office in Pasig City and from the site of the company’s natural gas-fired power plants in Batangas City joined a 2-kilometer (km) trek from the base to the summit of the Masungi Georeserve. They planted over 300 narra, bignay and banaba saplings.

In the past, the Masungi area suffered not only from the ravages of illegal logging and quarrying but also from an invading horde of illegal treasure hunters, lured by stories of buried World War II booties.

However, efforts are now underway to reforest and turn the area into an ecotourism destination.

Masungi is part of the Sierra Madre, the country’s longest mountain range that stretches for almost 700 km from Quezon province in the south to Cagayan province in the north.

First Gen is the country’s leading clean and renewable-energy company with total installed capacity of 3,492 megawatts.

Its portfolio of power plants runs on geothermal, hydro, wind, solar and natural gas, considered the cleanest form of fossil fuel.

First Gen is also undertaking Binhi, a forest restoration and biodiversity preservation program that aims to save endangered premium Philippine timber trees.