A multi-sector coalition of civil society has protested in front of the San Miguel Corp headquarters. (SMC) in Manila this week to demand an end to the Philippines’ nascent opening to liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, in favor of renewables.
The WagGas alliance of communities, environmental organizations and faith groups warned that importing LNG to replace dwindling local gas production will increase electricity bills and further endanger the country’s biodiverse environment.
“After leading the rapid and massive expansion of coal in the past, SMC today leads in accommodating large new capacities for gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) power, at the expense of the hopes of climate action, the healing of nature from fossil fuel pollution. , and the well-being of peoples,” said Bishop Gerry Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos, co-convener of WagGas, in a statement for the demonstration of on Tuesday, when the conglomerate held its annual shareholder meeting.
The coalition particularly attacked SMC’s power plant in Batangas province, saying shipping to supply it with fuel poses risks of spills in the Illa Verde Passage, considered the heart of the Coral Triangle. A March oil spill from a sunken vessel linked to SMC reached the strait.
The LNG terminal of AG&P International Pte. Ltd. and Linseed Field Power Corp. in Batangas Bay have started supplying the Ilijan Combined Cycle Plant, in the country’s first utility-scale supply for imported LNG, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on June 2. This allowed the plant to resume operations after being shut down in June 2022 when fuel supplies were cut off from the Malampaya gas field, the sole asset of only two gas discoveries in the archipelago.
“SMC has other projects in different parts of the country that are destructive to livelihoods and the environment,” WagGas added on Facebook in Filipino. He cited, among others, a coal mining project in Lake Sebu on the island of Mindanao, a highway project that would reportedly run parallel to the Pasig River that runs through the capital region and an allegedly ill-reported mangrove afforestation activity in Bulacan province that environmental experts said threatened the area’s ecology.
The protesters carried placards that read “SMC: Your Profit, Our Loss,” “SMC Gas and Coal Destructive to the Environment,” “SMC Oil Spill Destroying Isla Verde Pass,” and “We don’t want expensive electricity; SMC, don’t exploit consumers.”
Local television showed protesters gathered outside a gate of the SMC building with police on duty.
“There are ways to invest that will not cause destruction to everyone else who is not part of the company. We hope that SMC can change and that its shareholders lead the way,” adds Alminaza in the group’s statement.
WagGas added on Facebook, in Filipino: “Instead of importing fossil fuel from abroad, the Philippines should switch to renewables. This will ensure clean, safe and affordable electricity for Filipinos.”
Nearly 40 archdioceses, dioceses and prelature of the Catholic Church also issued a statement to shareholders in support of the protest.
“Today, more corporate players are recognizing their role in the climate crisis and are choosing to work to align with the Paris temperature target of 1.5°C. SMC, meanwhile, remains steadfast in its fossil fuel development,” said the statement signed by administrative units of the Church, including the archdioceses of the major Philippine cities of Baguio, La Union and Cagayan de Oro.
The statement said SMC is building a coal-fired plant in Bataan province despite a government moratorium on new licenses for coal-fired plants starting in October 2020.
“With 14 gigawatts, SMC is now also the leading proponent of new fossil gas projects in the country: a fleet that includes LNG power plants in the Verde Island Pass and the biodiversity-critical Tañon Strait,” says the communicated
“This massive capacity belies any excuse by SMC that it is contributing to a clean energy transition using gas as a transition fuel, as these projects, if built, will tie the Philippines to decades more of fossil fuel proliferation.”
In its 2022 annual sustainability report, SMC has pledged to become net zero by 2050 and “establish a circular economy approach by 2040”. It also committed to “a fully sustainable and ethical supply chain by 2040”.
More expensive electricity
WagGas previously said it had sent a letter signed by community representatives, fishermen and advocacy groups to SMC shareholders “urging them to halt SMC’s continued expansion of fossil fuel projects, particularly gas, for the grid energy of the country”.
“With the loss of supply from Malampaya, SMC is adding more risk to its investments by relying on imported LNG at a time when global supply is short and prices are volatile,” the letter said, according to WagGas. “SMC’s energy subsidiary has been projected by Bloomberg to have a funding shortfall of up to $1 billion next June.
“Importing LNG also means increasing the risk of more oil spills like what happened in Mindoro, when an SMC subsidiary chartered a vessel that eventually sank and is now leaking industrial oil, causing untold misery to fishermen and others people who depend on the sea for their livelihood”.
SMC has not yet issued a statement.
DOE Undersecretary Rowena Guevara previously told local television. Renewables, he said, could not meet demand.
But Gerry Arances of the People for Power Coalition said in an interview with local broadcaster GMA that the planned addition of two gigawatts of renewable energy next year would allow for a sufficient power supply while minimizing the burden of costs for consumers.
Renewables accounted for 23,771 gigawatt hours (GWh) of total national generation of 106,115 GWh in 2021, according to the latest DOE data, released in June. Coal contributed 62,052 GWh.
Meanwhile, Energy Director Rino Abad told local network ABS-CBN that global LNG prices “are really volatile, but at the end of the day our energy industry has mechanisms for any of the technologies to be competitive,” and he added that prices depend on market forces.
Unlike its Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines does not subsidize electricity. In its updated energy efficiency roadmap, the DOE admitted that Filipinos pay among the most expensive electricity rates in Asia.
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