Roxas Holdings partners for environment initiatives

MANILA, Philippines -  Listed sugar and ethanol producer Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) has partnered with the local government of Pontevedra in Negros Occidental for environment-related initiatives. 

RHI executive vice president and COO for Ethanol Luis Villa-Abrille said the company,  through subsidiaries Roxol and  Central Azucarera de la Carlota (CACI) would collaborate with the Pontevedra local government  to ensure that the health of people in the communities living near its plants is preserved.

“We are glad that the local government understands that we are addressing environmental concerns, and that we are exerting every effort to ensure that human health is not affected,” Villa-Abrille said.

The local government led by Mayor Jose Benito Alonso is advocating for cleaner and more sustainable environment by engaging partners such as RHI’s ethanol plant Roxol Bioenergy Corp. and its sugar mill, CACI, in various environmental initiatives.

The RHI Group, for its part, committed to assist the local government to clean up San Juan River where various kinds of pollutants have accumulated over the years.

CACI vice president Esteban Coscolluela said the group likewise supports the environmental projects that Alonso has laid out for Pontevedra.

Coscolluela said the collaboration would redound to sound practices that would strengthen the environmental campaigns of the local governments to protect the health of people and ensure sustainable economic growth in the communities.

Villa-Abrille said Roxol undertakes regular rounds at the communities and coordinates with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) to ensure that no incidents of pollution will occur.

The ethanol plant is presently commissioning two 5,000 cubic-meter anaerobic digesters on top of its two existing 10,000 cubic-meter anaerobic digesters to improve its wastewater management system and avoid any pollution concern.

RHI is an integrated sugar company that has expanded into bioethanol and co-generation. Together with its affiliate, Hawaiian-Philippine company, it is among the biggest raw sugar producers in the country with a combined capacity of 36,500 metric tons cane per day. 

The Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., chaired by businessman Manuel Pangilinan, has taken majority control of RHI in 2015.