Lopez-led First Gen Corporation won a Gold Anvil award from the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) for implementing a program that now helps in uplifting the lives of an indigenous cultural community in Mindanao.
First Gen received the award during the PRSP’s 61st Anvil Awards: Gabi ng Parangal, held last Jan. 28 at the Solaire Resort North, Quezon City, in recognition of the transformative contribution of the First Gen program, called MAMAFASWAS Weavers, for the inclusive development of the Mamanwa indigenous people in the remote barangay of Maraiging in Jabonga, Agusan del Norte.
First Gen named the winning livelihood program after the acronym of the Maraiging Mamanwa Farmers Skilled Workers Association, which First Gen organized back in 2021 with support from the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and other civil society groups.
With First Gen’s help, the MAMAFASWAS Weavers program has evolved into a regenerative weaving enterprise that provides the Mamanwas, among other things, technical skills and leadership training, as well as guidance on how they organize and enhance their handicraft products.
One key accomplishment of the MAMAFASWAS Weavers program helped to revive and improve the traditional skills of the Mamanwas in weaving artisan products from buri leaves and abaca fiber. Hand in hand with the skills revival, MAMAFASWAS Weavers program opened the artisan products to a wider market through their inclusion in local and national trade events, such as Lopez Group expos and the World Bazaar Festival in Manila.
“All these efforts under MAMAFASWAS Weavers have strengthened the weavers’ ability to produce quality, market-ready handicrafts and to participate more in value chains beyond their immediate community,” First Gen Senior Vice President Dennis Gonzales explained.
“The MAMAFASWAS Weavers initiative also has helped rekindle indigenous craft practices that were at risk of being lost, positioning them not only as sustainable livelihood opportunities but also as living expressions of Indigenous art, cultural heritage, and community-based cultural tourism,” Gonzales added.
Beyond income generation and wider market reach, the First Gen program has brought positive changes to the community. It has helped restore pride in indigenous identity, encouraged weavers to share traditional knowledge and strengthened community bonds by learning and working together.
Often called the “Oscars of PR,” the Anvil Awards: Gabi ng Parangal recognizes outstanding public relations programs and tools that demonstrate strategic, creative, and measurable impact. The award for the First Gen program affirms the power of authentic, community-rooted storytelling and the importance of placing community partners at the center of development narratives.
First Gen, the country’s leading provider of clean and renewable energy, is building a run-of-river hydroelectric power plant in Jabonga as part of its program to expand its capacity to 13 gigawatts by 2030.
The company operates 1,700 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar sources. To bolster national energy security and complement intermittent RE sources, the company also holds a 40-percent stake in four gas-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 2,017 MW, majority-owned by Prime Infrastructure Capital, Inc.
