The Philippines Anglican Church and the Episcopal Diocese of North-Central Philippines are beginning to see the first fruits of their joint community-based project to bring power to the remote regions of the Philippines.

The project is a response to the needs of around 10,000 villages across the Philippines that currently lie outside the state-run National Power Corporation’s grid.

The project involved the construction of a micro-hydro power plant which was designed and supervised by the Wellspring of Science and Technology (SIBAT). SIBAT also received 1.5 million peso (22,000 Euro) additional funding for the project.

As part of the project, Episcopalian Bishop Joel Pachao brought light to the remote village of Lon-oy, some 250 kilometres north of Manila, in the La Union Province, in 2002.

Frank Taguba, an engineer with SIBAT, said “It was really a pity to see [the villagers] groping in the dark at night time”. Before the construction of the plant, villagers had been forced to use kerosene lamps for lighting.

The villagers of Lon-oy also pitched in with the manual labour, with men, women and teenagers all helping in the digging and cementing over a three year period of a more than one kilometre-long diversion canal from the Lon-oy River.

The water channelled by the canal is then converted into 80 watts of electricity per household, designed mainly for lighting use only.

The project has already shown wonderful results with manufacturers being able to continue much later into the evening, and also start before daybreak.

Johnny Golocan, an engineer and lay leader who coordinates the development programme of the Episcopal Diocese of North-Central Philippines said that the project had brought another advantage to the villagers too: “With the electricity, our parishioners in Lon-oy can do their Bible studies and fellowship and prayer meetings even in the evening”.

The government has promised to energise the 10,000 villages still uncovered by the national grid under its Energy Plan.