Aaron Hochwimmer of Jacobs Engineering Group (right) shows a copy of the check amounting to $10,000 that their company donated to KEITECH as administrator and EDC Leyte CSR head Erwin Magallanes flashes a copy of the certificate of donation for Jacobs during the virtual turnover ceremonyWhen Energy Development Corporation’s (EDC) Mahanagdong B geothermal power plant in Leyte was badly hit by a 6.5- magnitude earthquake in 2017, Jacobs Engineering helped the company to not just restore it, but to build back a better facility.

This September 2020, Jacobs Engineering donated $10,000 to EDC-initiated KEITECH Educational Foundation Inc. to help fund its student-trainees’ tuition and fees.

“The successful Mahanagdong project delivery in 2017 was underpinned by the positive working relationship between the two companies with shared safety and sustainability values and a commitment to work towards a zerocarbon future. We are pleased to partner with EDC, which is one of the world leaders in geothermal energy,” said Aaron Hochwimmer, Jacobs Engineering’s director of Operations-Power, in his message during the virtual donation turnover ceremony.

He further emphasized: “The fundamental lessons on values that KEITECH teaches are also fundamentals for us in Jacobs and we think that they were instrumental to the success of our project with EDC.”

KEITECH is a technicalvocational school established in 2009 by EDC in partnership with the local government of Kananga in Leyte and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

“We express our deepest gratitude to Jacobs Engineering Group not only for their generous donation to KEITECH but, more importantly, for being EDC’s partner that seeks to elevate its beneficiaries,” said James Arnold Villaroman, head of the company’s Long-term Strategy Group.

“The financial assistance that Jacobs Engineering has provided to the student trainees of KEITECH is another proof of how it strives to ignite economic prosperity among impoverished communities through education, which we in EDC also believe is the greatest equalizer. As EDC and the rest of the Lopez Group embark on our new chosen path of fostering collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future, we are honored to have like-minded partners like Jacobs,” Villaroman added. (Story/Photos by: Frances Ariola)