Philippines communities challenge dash for fossil gas

Philippines relies on liquefied gas as an energy source

Gas-fired plants are blamed for health problems

The law to import natural gas is passed by lawmakers

By Mariejo Ramos

The government claims that LNG is an alternative to coal, and the capacity to generate it is required to meet the energy demands of Luzon Island, which is also home to Manila, the capital city, located 110 km (68 mi) north.

Many people in Santa Clara, an area adjacent to the port's terminal, claim that respiratory illness has increased dramatically, even among children as young five years old. They attribute this to the LNG plants.

Welita Abanil is a 69-year-old Santa Clara healthcare worker. She said, "We are worried that our health will worsen if they continue to build new gas plants and our livelihood will be affected."

Gas plants in the area have also reduced our fishing income. We have nowhere to go. "It's as if we're waiting to die," she said.

Jit Sohal is the climate and health manager for Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition promoting climate-resilient medicine. He said that methane, a by-product of burning fossil fuels, has a warming effect 86 times greater than carbon dioxide in a period of 20 years.

Sohal said that children are at a higher risk for respiratory diseases because they have a lower capacity to adapt to pollution such as methane or nitrogen oxide.

According to C40, an international network of 100 mayors dedicated to combating the climate crisis, air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels also contribute to premature deaths.

Last year, the Philippines Department of Health launched an investigation after residents of five Batangas district and climate NGOs reported a rise in respiratory and cardiovascular illness.

Voltaire Guadalupe who headed the investigation concluded that "it is to be expected that people get sick or even die." We cannot attribute the increase to power plant operation.

Turning the gas on

Residents of Batangas are now asking the government to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the health impacts of LNG plants, and to stop expanding fossil fuel.

Malampaya, the only commercial natural gas source in the country, is used to power four gas plants located in Batangas. However, it will be exhausted by 2027.

The lawmakers approved this month a measure that will push for increased gas exploration, expand LNG infrastructure by adding more LNG import terminals as well as more gas-fired electricity plants.

LNG emits less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels. However, it is primarily composed of methane - a colourless, powerful greenhouse gas.

The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), a coalition that works with communities vulnerable to climate change, has said the law will endanger these communities and contradict President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s push for renewable energy.

Global Witness, a non-profit organization, has said that exporting fossil fuels "to virtually any country in the world" under the guise of clean energy can lead to a "looming disaster" for the climate, which could endanger health and safety.

The Center for Energy, Ecology and Development, an NGO based in the Philippines, said that the use of fossil fuels in Southeast Asia, which is a region with a lot of renewable energy, was undermining the Paris Agreement commitments by states to reduce emissions.

Environmentalists are also concerned that the Philippines' embrace of natural gas will endanger the public health as well as the Verde Island Passage, in Batangas. This area is a global centre of marine biodiversity and has been dubbed the “Amazon of the Oceans”.

A group of civil societies organisations, including CEED and Greenpeace, as well as Friends of the Earth United States said that a Japanese-financed LNG facility in Batangas would endanger the livelihoods of more than 300 corals species in Verde Island Passage and the livelihoods of over 2 million people.

Right to LiveLIHOOD

Joseph Vargas, Abanil Vargas' husband, claimed that 200 fishermen near the Batangas Gas Plants had their livelihoods threatened by these facilities.

Vargas stated that gas plant operators do not allow fishing boats to enter their normal fishing grounds near gas facilities.

The Constitution says that every Filipino's right of life and security should be protected. Vargas, who is 53, said that our livelihood is dependent on the environment and not the gas industry.

Vargas, like other residents of Santa Clara who are concerned about the impact the gas plants will have on their children in the future.

Local officials recognized the difficulty of finding a balance between the energy needs of the country and its economic growth, while also protecting the public's health.

Andres MALIBIRAN, the head of San Isidro District in the vicinity of the power plant, said: "We can't deny the contribution of power plants to the development of communities here."

(source: Reuters)