MORONG, Bataan: GNPower Dinginin Ltd Co. (GNPD) announced Monday the release of 270 pawikan (sea turtle) hatchlings to the sea near the Sagip Pawikan Foundation hatchery in Sitio Fuerte, Barangay Poblacion here.

Volunteers, residents, and employees of GNPD participated in the release on Friday, January 26.

GNPD, a company that operates a coal-fired power plant in Mariveles, considered the event as a significant milestone in its ongoing efforts to protect and preserve the province's marine biodiversity.

Gracing the event were Bataan 3rd District Rep. Maria Angela Garcia, Raphael de Leon of the provincial environment office, Sagip Pawikan Foundation president Arnold Mendoza, Poblacion barangay chairman Jerson Garcia, and GNPD assistant vice president for community relations Arcel Madrid.

Mendoza said that once the female pawikan reach maturity in 25 years or so, they come back to where they were born and lay their eggs.

At 9:45 p.m. on the same day of the release, a mother pawikan was spotted surfacing from the sea and laid 137 eggs along the beach.

In July last year, the GNPD signed a three-year agreement worth P4.3 million with the provincial government of Bataan and the Sagip Pawikan Foundation to adopt the said local hatchery.

The program is part of GNPD's corporate social responsibility flagship project.

Since then, the breeding ground has released a total of 10,926 hatchlings from a total of 15,587 pawikan eggs conserved. The adoption has already generated 158 pawikan nests from which 107 have already hatched and released into the wild.

Out of the seven sea turtle species in the world, five can be found in the Philippines. Three turtle species — Green, Olive Ridley, and Hawksbill turtles — make the shores of Morong, Bataan their nesting sites.