As they continue to call on the government to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) sources in the country, activists are also urging project developers to be “more responsible”, in the wake of reports about multi-million-dollar projects causing damage to the environment, and threatening the welfare and livelihood of local communities.

While RE projects remain largely insignificant in number (1,327 as of March 31, 2024 and comprised hydropower, solar, geothermal, wind, ocean power, and biomass projects) to push forward the government’s Clean Energy Agenda, advocates said some of these projects are already causing notable problems in the areas where they have been built or are being built.

Impacts of massive floating solar farms

Local residents and fisherfolk groups led by the Save the Laguna Lake Movement (SLLM) and Pamalakaya Pilipinas have called attention to the US$1.2 billion, 1,300-megawatt floating solar farm now being constructed in the Laguna Lake. Activists alleged that the 2,000-hectares build and operate project, touted to be one of the largest floating solar farms in the world, is being built without going through the correct consultative process with affected communities.

The facility construction, funded by Macquarie Capital, is managed by Blue Leaf Energy Asia, a company based in Singapore, and local company SunAsia Energy. Proponents are actively promoting the solar farm as a solution to rotating power blackouts in the province as it will cover the cities of Calamba, Sta. Rosa, and Cabuyao, as well as the towns of Bay and Victoria.

A SLLM spokesperson said despite claims of the Laguna Development Authority – one of the government agencies overseeing the project – many fisherfolk including officials of local Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils (FARMCs) said they are not aware of details of the project.

“The residents in the communities living near the project site depend heavily on the Laguna Lake for their livelihood and the survival of their families. They do not believe that the solar farm will not have a negative impact on their livelihood because the project will be cutting across areas of the lake that are traditional fishing grounds or locations of fish pens,” the spokesperson said in an email exchange with Maritime Fairtrade.

The spokesperson said the construction of the solar farm will coincide with the establishment of the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network, another project which fisherfolk are also wary of.

“The fisherfolk are worried that they will eventually be denied access to the lake and the fishing grounds.”

The spokesperson clarified that the SLLM and the fisherfolk are not against development projects and certainly not against RE projects, “but we must insist that the basic rights and welfare of communities should be prioritized and never ignored or compromised during the project construction and implementation.”

The Pamalakaya group and its local chapter, are more vehement in their protest, calling the project “destructive” and “profit-driven”. Representing 800 fisherfolk and their families, the group said members are alarmed by the possibility that the project will destroy their fishing docks and deny their boats access to the lake.

Pamalakaya-Bay president Alejandro Alcones said during a picket in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that the floating solar farm will occupy the lake areas that fisherfolk usually go to or pass through to get to their fishing grounds.

“From the very beginning, we have not been given full information on the project and how it will potentially affect us. We have not been presented with any alternatives or solutions, and in fact we have not been consulted. Our views and concerns have not been heard at all.”

Alcones said by their estimates, the project will have a negative impact on the livelihood of at least 8,500 registered fisherfolk and more than 2,000 individuals who are involved in aquaculture activities in the province of Laguna.

Floating solar panels. Photo credit: Sta. Rosa government.

Windfarms in ancestral lands

Another RE project that has come under scrutiny is the windfarm built on indigenous people’s (IPs) ancestral lands within a reservation in Baras, Rizal, south of Manila. Activists are calling on the company behind the project, Vena Energy, to relocate their planned wind farm away from the Masungi Georeserve, specifically from the Masungi Karst Conservation Area (MKCA). They said the area holds “immense ecological significance” as it serves as a sanctuary for diverse flora and fauna, and is the location of many unique geological formations. The georeserve is home to over 400 documented species of flora and fauna in the Philippines.

Singapore-based Vena Energy is building 12 colossal wind turbines as part of its 603-megawatt Rizal Wind Energy Project. These, activists pointed out, will negatively affect bird and bat species living in the georeserve. Additionally, an estimated 485 to 1,011 hectares of the MKCA will be potentially affected because extensive road networks have to be built which may lead to forest clearing, vegetation damage, and visual disruption of the natural landscape.

“Relocating the project would not only demonstrate a commitment to environmental stewardship but also ensure the preservation of this invaluable natural heritage for future generations to cherish and enjoy,” according to the Save Masungi Movement.

Determined to call attention to the project, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, the nonprofit organization managing the site, has launched a nationwide petition appealing to Vena Energy to relocate its wind farm project. Among the signatories are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Philippines, Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, Greenpeace Philippines, Ashoka Philippines, ABS-CBN Foundation, Living Laudato Si’ Philippines, and Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines.

“Our opposition stems not from a resistance to RE. We recognize and support the critical need for clean, sustainable energy solutions to combat the escalating climate crisis. Our plea is for a thoughtful consideration of the balance between progress and preservation, a balance we find dangerously compromised by the proposed project,” the Masungi Georeserve Foundation said.

The Foundation asked President Bongbong Marcos, Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, and Energy Secretary Raphael M. Lotilla to revoke any permits issued for the project inside the conservation area.  

Another group, the Philippine Initiative for Environment Conservation is protesting against the operations connected to a RE project in Panay Island, which saw the expansion of the Nabas Wind Power Project within the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park, with mass clearing of trees, extensive road construction, and alarming events of siltation and soil erosion. The park is home to the endangered Philippine Deers and the critically endangered Negros Bleeding Heart Pigeons.

Just Energy Transition framework

The grassroots campaigns calling attention to RE projects’ potential harm have prompted environmental groups to urge RE developers to utilize a consultative and people-centric approach in their projects to ensure the implementation of projects are smoother and faster.

Maya Quirino, advocacy coordinator of policy think-tank Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), said the commissioning times for RE projects in the past decade have been delayed because of social conflict.

“Some project experience delays of up to eight months, or 33 percent of the current global average commissioning time of 24 months.

“A fair transition is a fast transition towards a clean and renewable energy future for the Philippines. A Just Energy Transition (JET) framework can potentially reduce a third of commissioning time for RE projects as it addresses major bottlenecks in impact assessment and social acceptability.”

In its latest publication “Just Energy Transition in the Philippines”, the LRC explained that the JET framework gives priority to communities when it comes to energy control and advances ecological restoration. This means that RE projects observe economic and social equity, and communities are made partners.

A study on environmental impact assessments (EIA), which affect environmental, socioeconomic, and human rights, revealed that 46 percent of entire average EIA duration are spent addressing appeals to insufficient impact assessments and public consultations.

Quirino said it is crucial that EIA should include full disclosure mechanisms for the public to scrutinize the projects.

“Applications for projects must indicate all potential, direct, indirect, induced, and cumulative impacts, as well as any other stringent standards that cover the environment and the welfare of people.

“These requirements should not be limited to a one-time evaluation. They should be done periodically, alongside timely audits throughout the entire duration of projects, particularly for commercial and large-scale renewable initiatives.”

Benefits to communities

After disputes regarding the impact of RE projects have been settled, there is the matter of whether the projects will benefit communities directly or not and how.

Atty. Jeanette Florita, executive director of Tanggapang Panligal ng Katutubong Pilipino (PANLIPI), said this is another reason why genuine consultations with communities are very important.

“Our IP brothers and sisters are far from being greedy when it comes to the resources of the land and the areas that fall within their ancestral domains. They are willing to share. It’s important that they directly benefit from projects being done in their areas which they have managed, preserved, and protected since time immemorial.”

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the law governing the country’s electric power industry, host communities of power projects including RE projects, are entitled to receive from the “one centavo per kilowatt-hour of the total electricity sales” trust fund that is owned by the power generators and the recipient communities.

A separate but related policy penned by the Department of Environment and Energy Policy in 2019 enforces compliance of the EPIRA implementing rules and regulations that provide benefits to Indigenous Cultural Communities and IPs (ICC-IPs) duly recognized and accredited by the government.

The access share of ICCs and IPs from the Universal Charge-Environmental Charge (UC-EC), as host community, being the owners of the Ancestral Domain, are provided for in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.

“So much still has to be done to assert the rights of ICC-IPs when it comes to their share of benefits from energy project benefits. It’s unjust that in the rush to get projects approved and implemented, shortcuts are made and in the process it’s always the communities who get shortchanged,” Florita said.

“We call on energy project developers to observe to the letter the prescribed process of consultations with communities, and to give them what is due to them. From start to finish and everything else in between when it comes to projects, people must always come first; and because of this, it also logically follows that the environment must be protected because it is the source of not only livelihoods, but of life itself.”

Atty. Jeanette Florita, executive director, Tanggapang Panligal ng Katutubong Pilipino (PANLIPI). Photo credit: Ina Silverio

For social good

As of this writing, construction of the floating solar farms and wind farm projects are ongoing. Proponents continued to declare the benefits: energy security, lower energy costs, and the sustainability of clean energy. Be that as it may, energy, including renewable energy, remains a commodity, and the generation, transmission, and distribution are largely privatized, causing access for majority of Filipinos to remain limited. Ordinary people are treated only as consumers with no power or control over energy resources or technology.

As the Philippines continues its push towards a clean energy future, what is happening in the present must be addressed: the potential negative impacts of RE projects on people and environment. Approving RE projects regardless of the damage they create will negate all the social good that RE aims to create.  

Top photo credit: Save Laguna Lake Movement