Christmas will be brighter for remote Davao villagers

In a remote village some 50 kilometers west of Davao City, residents used to spend Christmas in the dark. Today the residents of Upper Kibalang, Davao del Norte, are looking not just at the prospect of a brighter Christmas this year, they can expect to be powered all year round.

It was all done with solar lighting. In December 2010, some 30 houses in the Gawad Kalinga Violet Hills Village in Upper Kibalang were lighted with LED bulbs using electricity from 13-plate batteries regularly recharged through a solar-powered battery charger located in the center of the village.

“Our heartfelt thanks to Davao Light for this solar lighting project in our village. This is the most precious gift we’ve ever received in so many Christmas seasons that came in our lifetime,” said Jun Lacanilao, the president of the Gawad Kalinga village that is the main beneficiary of the year-old solar lighting project.

The project was made possible through a partnership between Gawad Kalinga and Davao Light and Power Co., the Aboitiz-owned electric utility that has been implementing similar projects in remote upland communities that are far from the power grid.

Gawad Kalinga-Davao, the Davao chapter of the antipoverty group, helped strengthen the beneficiary organization and set up the mechanism that allows the solar power project to become an income-generating endeavor. Proceeds from the project are used to buy new batteries for community members not included among the initial 30 recipients.

Initial 30 batteries

Davao Light donated the initial 30 battery units given to each household beneficiary. With each battery, the electric utility also donated the three LED bulbs installed in the recipients’ houses.

To ensure the safety and quality of the installation work, linemen from Davao Light volunteered to install the wires and bulb receptacles on the houses. Under the company’s CFO (Creating Future Organizations) program, the linemen also put up three outdoor lights mounted on poles with individual battery and self-charging solar panels.

Energizing communities

The Upper Kibalang solar project in Marilog district is not the first to be implemented by Davao Light in its franchise area which covers Davao and Panabo cities and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali and Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte.

Five years ago, the company partnered with a US Agency International Development-funded nongovernment organization, Amore (Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy), to power five remote barangays in their franchise area.

Eighty-eight other sitios in the rugged and very remote uplands have also been provided with solar-powered battery charging stations, under a partnership with Business Center Davao (BCD), an NGO assisted by the Australian government.

A brighter future

According to Lacanilao, for the 10 months since the installation of LED bulbs in their houses, the residents have been able to save on monthly kerosene costs. He said a liter of kerosene to fuel a couple of lamps for five days would cost about P50. A family could spend more than P200 a month for only minimal lighting.

With the solar lighting project, a house with three LED bulbs, a radio set and a basic television set, would only need a single charging of a battery that could last for up to a month. The cost per charging for a 13-plate battery is only P30 while a LED bulb can last for as long as 10 years.

Health hazards, such as skin and respiratory illnessess, from chronic kerosene exposure have also been eliminated. And black soot “invading” children’s noses during pre-LED bulb days are a thing of the past.

According to villager Lilia Baer, the residents were initially skeptical that Davao Light could light up their community when the nearest power lines were 15 kilometers away

But now they marvel at how they can get the news not just through radio like before but also through television. And like their fellow urban and lowland Filipinos, they now enjoy variety shows and telenovelas aired by Manila and Davao-based stations.

Of course, village residents still long for real electric service to reach their village one day. With power directly connected to their homes, there would be no need to take the batteries to the charging station. They can also have the option to choose what appliances or electrical gadgets to install in their homes. But for now, given their distance from the main grid, power through a solar-charged battery is already more than a luxury.