Partymate vows to change Duterte’s pro-coal stance

This file photo shows the Sual coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan. INQUIRER

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines – An ally of presidential frontrunner Rodrigo ‘Rody’ Duterte said on May 4 that she will try to change the latter’s pro-coal position if he does win the presidency.

“I will be one of those who will pressure him to do the shift to renewable energy,” Kristine Balmes, Duterte’s partymate from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) said at the sidelines of the launch of the “Piglas Batangas! Piglas Pilipinas!” campaign against coal-fired power plants.  The campaign is part of the Break Free global movement of civil society groups against fossil fuels.

READ: Duterte: UN stand vs coal ‘hypocritical’ | Why is PH building 25 more coal-powered plants?

Balmes, who is seeking the mayoralty post, said she will do this both as a member of PDP-Laban and of the Green Thumb Coalition, which was formed by 40 local organizations in February to promote environmental protection as an election issue.  Balmes said she believes Duterte is open to establishing a timeline for a transition from coal-fired power plants to renewable energy as he did support environmental protection in other aspects.

Duterte got an overall rating of 56.77 percent in the Green thumb scorecard, clinching commendable scores on the issues of mining (61 percent) and people-centered sustainable development (74 percent). He however, got the lowest score among the 5 presidential candidates for energy transformation and democracy with 43 percent.

Duterte, who has been topping the polls for the highest position in the land, has declared the call from the international community to stop sourcing energy from coal as “hypocrisy.”  Various countries including major carbon emitters such as China and the United States have pushed for a global transition to renewable energy following the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The agreement, which has been signed by 175 countries including the Philippines on April 22, 2016 mandates developed and developing nations to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit the global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius to as far as 1.5 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels.

Failure to do so could trigger extreme and slow-onset weather events such as typhoons and sea level rise, some of the effects of climate change. The Philippines has experienced some of these already, as it was considered as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. In 2015, it ranked first in the Global Climate Risk Index of German Watch after it lost at least 6,000 lives and suffered from P30 billion worth of agricultural damages due to typhoon Yolanda (international codename Haiyan) in 2013.

In the presidential debate on March 20, the PDP-Laban standard bearer called the UN and other developed countries “hypocrites.”

“The United Nations and industrial countries are hypocrites,” he said. “Why are they coming here, telling us what to do when we are a developing country? We need energy.”

New leaders should “break free” from coal

Environmental and partylist groups, however, have raised that it is the Philippines, particularly under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, which displayed hypocrisy after the government approved 27 more coal-fired power plants amidst the pronouncements it made for stronger and more urgent actions to mitigate climate change during the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France.

“Barely a month after President Aquino came back from the UN climate change talks in Paris in December last year, he inaugurated the opening of the coal-fired power plant in Davao,” Aaron Pedrosa, secretary-general of the Sanlakas partylist group said.

Ian Rivera, national coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, said the new set of local and national leaders to be elected on May 9must thumb down the 27 other proposed coal-fired power plants, one of which is the 600-megawatt coal plant of JG Summit Holdings in Brgy. Pinamucan Ibaba in Batangas city.

“Piglas is a call for the incoming president and other new government officials to scrap the Pinamucan coal plant and the 26 other coal-fired power plants in the pipeline. It is also a demand for the phase-out of the 19 existing coal plants nationwide,” he said.

Balmes said rejecting the proposed coal plant project in Pinamucan will be her priority if ever she wins as mayor of Batangas city. Balmes is running against Beverly Dimacuha-Marino of Liberal party.

The proposed coal-fired power plant in Pinamucan will not be the first one to operate in Batangas if ever it is given the green light, however.  AC Energy Holdings Inc. started the commercial operation of its South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. of in the municipality of Calaca in April 2015.

The Lipa Archdiocesan Ministry on Environment has led the call for the junking of the proposed coal-fired power plant.

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said that those who will lead the country must stop the use of coal-fired power plants because they emit greenhouse gases, which cause climate change. They also serve as a source of air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which can damage the lungs.

“We are facing a planetary emergency. Now more than ever, we need leaders who are pro-people and pro-environment, not pro-coal and pro-climate change,” the archbishop said.

The Archdiocese of Lipa was joined by 10,000 people in its “Piglas Batangas!Piglas Pilipinas” campaign against coal held on May 4. The Philippines held this campaign as part of the Break Free From Fossil Fuels movement, which will be conducted in 14 other countries from May 4-May 15.