MGEN Builds a Workplace Where Everyone Belongs

Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGEN) signed its pledge in 2025 as the 109th member of the Philippine Financial & Inter-Industry Pride (PFIP) and launched a formal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Policy.

For this year’s Pride Month, MGEN marks not a launch but a continuation — one measured in the structures it has built, the practices it has revised, and the daily realities it has changed for the people who power its operations across 12 provinces.

Building a Culture of Belonging Through Action

MGEN is the first entity within the One Meralco Group to extend health and medical coverage to same-sex and common-law partners. The policy affirms that access to care should not depend on the gender of the person an employee loves or the legal form their family takes.

Beyond the coverage itself, the benefit represents a decision about definition –which families count, which relationships are real, and which employees deserve to come to work knowing their household is protected. In an industry where LGBTQIA+ visibility has historically been limited, that decision carries weight well beyond any single enrollment figure. That choice does not happen in isolation. It is the product of a policy framework designed from the start to make inclusion something the organization does, not merely something it declares.

At MGEN whose workforce spans Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and represents a breadth of cultures, backgrounds, and lived experiences, inclusive benefits are not an add-on. They are a statement about whose lives the company chooses to recognize.

A Policy Made Visible in Practice

As a follow-through on MGEN’s DEIB Policy launched in June 2025, MGEN is bringing the conversation on Unconscious Bias this 2026 directly to the people whose decisions shape who gets hired, who gets developed, and who gets to lead — hiring managers and senior leaders across the One MGEN group. The session is designed to surface and examine the assumptions embedded in everyday decisions, recognizing that an inclusive workplace is built from the top of the decision chain, not just written into its policies.

The session builds on the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) 101 and Business of Inclusion training introduced during last year’s Pride Month dialogue, which has since expanded to team representatives across the organization and continues to grow. DEIB principles are being integrated into policies and practices across different business units and teams, moving the work from a standalone initiative into the operating rhythm of the company.

“Building an inclusive workplace is not a one-time declaration — it is a discipline. Every training session, every policy revision, every facility we redesign is a decision to make belonging real for the people who show up here every day,” MGEN President and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio.

For Dominic Rhey “DR” Cenit, Community Relations Officer at MTerra Solar, the shift from declared policy to daily practice already shows in how colleagues treat her, three months into the role. Cenit also speaks directly to the next generation of LGBTQIA+ Filipinos considering a career in energy.

“I am living proof and a representative of the rainbow community that it can be done,” Cenit said. “I made it and I believe that you can do it too. HINDI KA BAKLA LANG, KASI BA-hagi KA ng LA-hat [You’re not just gay — you’re part of everyone].”

Spaces That Say You Belong Here

That operating rhythm extends beyond meeting rooms and policy documents; it is written into the physical spaces where MGEN’s people spend their working days.

 

The MGEN Head Office is equipped with an all-gender restroom, a facility that removes a daily point of friction for employees who do not fit neatly into binary categories. MGEN is working to make all-gender restrooms available across its sites and facilities where feasible, extending the same standard of dignity beyond its Manila headquarters.

Belonging has to be legible at every level from the benefits, training programs, governance, and to the facilities— because the people it is built for bring the full complexity of their lives to work every day.

A Workforce Built on Many Kinds of Strength

In the corporate office, women constitute 55 percent of the workforce. Across the organization, MGEN continues to create an environment where employees are not asked to set aside who they are in order to contribute fully.

With operations spanning 12 provinces, MGEN’s workforce is shaped by the communities it serves. The perspectives, cultures, and lived experiences its people carry into work each day are not incidental to how the company operates. They are part of how it thinks, decides, and builds.

As External Affairs Officer at MGEN, Arminah Solis supports the company’s partnerships, sponsorships, and community engagement initiatives — working closely with organizations and stakeholders that help advance MGEN’s programs.

“From the very beginning, MGEN has made me feel respected, heard, and given opportunities to contribute regardless of my background or identity. The company’s formal support for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging reinforces the culture I have personally experienced,” Solis said.

She added that young LGBTQIA+ Filipinos who are considering a career in the energy sector should know that their skills, ideas, and perspectives have a place in the industry.

What Belonging Looks Like, Built Over Time

MGEN recognizes that building an inclusive workplace requires continuous work beyond policy adoption. As it moves forward, it will continue to strengthen its DEIB efforts through employee engagement, awareness-building, workplace improvements, and practices that support a respectful and inclusive environment for all.

Through these efforts, MGEN remains committed to fostering a workplace where employees are valued, supported, and given equal opportunity to contribute to its mission of powering a better tomorrow.