By Jade Gamas-Chiu

For Davao Light, 2021 has had a very favorable start with three batches of pawikan eggs hatched in the first quarter of the year. A total of 334 sea turtle hatchlings have been released back to sea on the shores of Aboitiz Cleanergy Park, the outdoor biodiversity sanctuary at Sitio Punta Dumalag in Matina Aplaya, Davao City.

The first batch, 128 pawikan hatchlings, was released by Davao Light President and COO Rodger Velasco on January 20. A few weeks after, on February 5, the Davao Light team released another 92 baby pawikans. Davao City  Councilor Diosdado Angelo R. Mahipus, Jr., who chairs the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and the new Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) XI Regional Executive Director, Bagani Fidel Evasco were present to witness the event.

The third nest, with 107 pawikan hatchlings, was released last February 23. Seven additional pawikan eggs hatched from the same nest and were released last March 6. This brings the total to 5,145 hatchlings released at the Park since 2014.

The Aboitiz Cleanergy Park is an eight-hectare ecological preserve which is managed by Davao Light, an AboitizPower subsidiary.  It aims to preserve the pawikan nesting grounds, be a home of many thriving bird species and help maintain ecological balance for other sea and land creatures.

Davao Light also supports the government's campaign against the use of single-use plastics to help in the pawikan conservation.