BISHOP SLAMS PASSAGE OF HOUSE BILL PROMOTING NATURAL GAS AS ENERGY SOURCE
CITY—An environmentalist Catholic bishop slammed the passage of House Bill (HB) No. 8456, known as the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry Development Act, and called on senators to vote against it to stop the measure from becoming a law.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, the bishop of Diocese of San Carlos City in Negros Occidental and the convenor of the environmental conservation group “WagGas,” described in a statement on Friday that the decision of the House of Representatives to overwhelmingly vote (215 against 3) to approve HB 8456 on Wednesday was “a dark day for Filipinos.”
The bill aims to establish the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry to promote natural gas as a “safe, environment-friendly, efficient and cost-effective source of energy,” said House Speaker Martin Romualdez in a statement released by the House’s Press and Public Affairs Bureau on Aug. 3.
But Alminaza argued that HB 8456 “promotes gas—a fuel that is as expensive, unsafe and deadly—as a source of energy despite the great advances made in renewable energy in the country.”
He urged the Senate to “stand with the welfare of Filipinos and defend the country against the climate crisis” by voting against the bill.
He explained that gas, much like coal, damages the environment at every stage of its use, from extraction to utilization in power plants.
“It promotes climate change, further aggravating the extreme weather impacts we are already experiencing, which we all—including our government—have committed to prevent from further worsening,” Alminaza warned.
Renewable energy
The prelate argued there was no reason for the country to rely on fossil fuels, noting that “the full transition to renewable energy is not only feasible, it is what must be done to curb the destructive effects of the climate crisis.”
He added: “Renewable energy is abundant here in our country, affordable and does not contribute to climate change. The only beneficiaries of the gas industry are the investors who profit from the long-term misery imposed on Filipino consumers.”
The bishop said HB 8456 also promotes the importation of gas fuel, subjecting Filipino consumers to expensive fluctuations in the world market.
“Its transport on ships also increases the risk that we will have another and probably worse spill than the one we already experience with MT Princess Empress in the Verde Island Passage, whose effects are still felt to this day,” he noted.
On Feb. 28, oil tanker MT Princess Empress, which was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel, sank off the waters of Oriental Mindoro, which is within the VIP corridor, and caused a massive oil spill.
VIP is a 1.14 million-hectare marine ecosystem located off the coastlines of Batangas, Romblon, Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro provinces. It has been recognized as the “center of global shore-fish biodiversity” due to the high densities of marine resources in the area.
The environmental group Protect the Verde Island Passage described the fragile marine corridor as also the “epicenter” of fossil gas and LNG developments in the country, as eight of 27 proposed new plants and seven of the nine planned LNG terminals in the country are located in Batangas.
The group warned that by allowing fossil gas facilities to be built and operated, it will expose the VIP to the frequent entry of LNG barges, and inadvertent oil spills or disposal of shipboard liquid wastes and bilge water.