Aboitiz Power Corporation distribution utility Davao Light and Power Co., Inc. (Davao Light) was the Philippine private sector winner of the 6th ASEAN Rural Development and Poverty Eradication Leadership Awards (RDPELA) for the corporate social responsibility programs it conducted with various partners to help enhance the living standards and the quality of life of people within its service area.

The RDPELA is a regular biennial activity of the Senior Officials Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication intended to recognize, encourage, and promote community development and anti-poverty initiatives in the ASEAN member states.

The RDPELA recognized Davao Light 's efforts in helping local cooperatives and associations like Samahan ng may iba't-ibang Kakayahan sa Dabaw (SAKADAB), as well as establishing technical vocational facilities for the Philippine Department of Education via Project e.Lab.

"We believe that enabling dignified, sustainable livelihoods and providing education and upskilling opportunities open up more doors for our kababayans to get out of poverty," said Davao Light President and COO Rodger S. Velasco. "Since the Davao region's poverty incidence is still quite high at 11.9% in 2021, we hope to do our own fair share in getting that number down through our corporate social responsibility initiatives with our partners."

SAKADAB

Davao Light, along with the Aboitiz Group's social development arm Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Aboitiz Foundation), has been supporting SAKADAB since 2012, starting when Aboitiz employees with other groups and organizations helped build their houses in the Gawad Kalinga community.

Since then, they have been recipients of livelihood materials, equipment, and training meant to build the capability of its differently-abled members and ensure the sustainability of the cooperative.

Help was most critical during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the members of the consumer cooperative bore the brunt of putting food on the table for their respective families amidst great economic uncertainty. Davao Light and Aboitiz Foundation provided support to SAKADAB's bakeshop business via the donation of baking materials.

The distribution utility also took initiative to upskill SAKADAB members in dressmaking to add to the cooperative's income-generating projects. As a result, several members received their national certification or NC II in dressmaking from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) after having passed a National Competency Assessment. This deems them ready for work or employment in that endeavor.