As part of its commitment to nation-building and driving innovation in the energy industry, Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Meralco Power Academy (MPA) brought to Mindanao its flagship PowerConvos lecture series, an initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s pipeline of future-ready talent for a rapidly evolving energy sector.
Held on April 15, 2026, PowerConvos gathered over 1,000 engineering students from Mindanao State University-General Santos (MSU-GenSan) who actively participated in discussions on the current state of the energy sector and Meralco’s innovative programs on grid modernization and implementation of digital solutions.
Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and MPA President Ronnie L. Aperocho, who is an MSU alumnus himself, shared the distribution utility’s (DU) latest innovations and initiatives that aim to enhance to the service reliability in the areas that Meralco serves.
“While our operations are primarily in Luzon, the challenges we face are the same challenges the country’s grid is confronting – including here in Mindanao. Over the past few years, Meralco has been deliberately revolutionizing distribution utility operations—deploying advanced distribution automation up to the grid-edge, big data analytics and other cutting-edge, resilient and cyber-secure systems and platforms,” Aperocho said.
Meralco representatives also shared initiatives to elevate customer experience, demonstrating how engineering excellence goes beyond infrastructure to deliver enhanced public value and support sustainable national development.
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“Our customers are changing – they demand higher-than-ever levels of personalized service. By adopting their perspective to understand their pain points, Meralco embarked on a digital transformation. This led to several customer-journey improvement programs to provide simple, fast, and convenient touchpoints for customer interaction – including the My Meralco App, which streamlines service application, billing, payment, outage restoration, among others,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of DU Subsidiaries and Strategic Partnerships Ferdinand O. Geluz said.
PowerConvos is designed to provide an avenue for the industry experts, such as engineers, executives, and specialists, who share insights on current industry trends and advancements, real-world case studies, and career pathways in the power and energy sector.
The MSU-GenSan leg of PowerConvos marks another milestone in its growing partnership with Meralco which began in June 2025 with the signing of a memorandum of agreement on strengthening industry-academe collaboration through knowledge exchange and practical learning opportunities for future engineers and energy professionals.
Complementing the knowledge-sharing sessions, Meralco, through MPA, further reinforced its support for experiential learning by donating specialized power equipment to MSU-GenSan.
Meralco, through Meralco Power Academy, donated power equipment to enhance experiential learning of MSU-GenSan students. Seen in photo (L-R) Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic DU Partnerships Arnel D. Casanova, Meralco Senior Vice President and DU Subsidiaries and Strategic Partnerships Head Ferdinand O. Geluz, MSU-General Santos Chancellor Shidik Abantas, MSU GenSan Dean of the College of Engineering Noel Gunay, Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and MPA President Ronnie L. Aperocho, and MPA Executive Director Ian Chester V. Colorina.
These tools aim to enhance laboratory instruction and provide students with hands-on exposure to industry-grade technologies. The donation includes a 34.5 kV switchgear and protection system assembly, a battery charger, an insulation resistance tester, a digital clamp multimeter, and a digital multimeter.
Through initiatives such as PowerConvos and sustained academic partnerships, MPA continues to help shape the next generation of energy professionals while contributing meaningfully to the country’s long-term growth and sustainable development.
“Partnerships like this do more than bridge the gap between theory and practice—they are the foundry of the future. By fusing academic rigor with industry excellence, we ignite the sparks of innovation that will light the way for generations to come,” MSU-General Santos Chancellor Shidik Abantas said.
