Duterte hits polluters but backs city coal plant

DAVAO CITY—While expressing anger at developed countries that he blamed for global warming and the disaster in Leyte province, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he still supported a coal-fired power plant that is being built here.

Duterte said the coal plant’s emissions would be “too small” to worsen climate change.

“I’m angry,” said the mayor. “But what can we do? Climate change is already here, we have to find a way to deal with the problem,” he said on Monday, a day after leading a humanitarian team from this city that offered to help Supertyphoon “Yolanda” survivors in Tacloban City.

Although he blamed global warming for the tragedy, and developed countries for global warming, Duterte said he hadn’t changed his position on the coal power plant being built here.

“We only have one, if we don’t have one, we face a crisis of energy by the end of this decade, we can’t move,” said Duterte.

“Industries that are coming in need a lot of electricity, where would we get power?” he added.

Environmentalists have repeatedly pointed out that coal, being fossil-based, has been a top contributor to global warming, which is triggering abnormal weather patterns like the increasing occurrence of Category 5 typhoons like Typhoon “Pablo” and Yolanda.

“Global warming, that’s not ours,” Duterte said. “The heating up of the Pacific Ocean was contributed by China, America, Europe,” he said.

“Our contribution is very minimal. Now it’s here already, we just have to find our way to deal with it,” he said. Germelina Lacorte,

Inquirer Mindanao