Beyond profit motive
Recently, cause-oriented groups protested against SMC’s LNG projects in Batangas as they fear it will affect major livelihood sources, including the fishing and tourism sectors in the province.
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Daily TribuneRecently, cause-oriented groups protested against SMC’s LNG projects in Batangas as they fear it will affect major livelihood sources, including the fishing and tourism sectors in the province.
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Various local groups have banded to urge regional giant San Miguel Corp. to lead in the global sustainability drive by using its international network and contributing to saving the country from the ravages of weather disturbances that grow stronger each year.
To do this, however, it must redirect its energy business and veer away from fossil fuel which remains to be the company's energy bread and butter.
The campaign's name "San Miguel's Latest Brew: Dirty Energy" gives the public a perspective on the character of energy projects that the company is engaged in.
The group cited SMC's shift to liquefied natural gas projects of 14 gigawatts. It will make up the biggest source of fuel in the company's energy mix.
Relying on LNG will exacerbate the already high electricity prices, it will affect energy security in terms of reliance on imports and bring about biodiversity issues.
Think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, led the campaign while getting the support of the environment and sustainable energy advocates, youths, and religious organizations.
"SMC must realize that not only are they exposing Filipino consumers to steep electricity prices, but they are also at risk of being weighed down with stranded assets," CEED said.
The conglomerate's energy unit SMC Global Power has shifted from Malampaya to imported LNG to provide fuel for the Ilijan high-capacity power plants.
Ilijan is one of two power plants for which SMC Global Power had sought power rate increases that the Energy Regulatory Board dismissed since the power supply agreement uses a straight pricing scheme that does not allow expenses to be passed on to consumers.
SMC Global Power said the operations of Ilijan and the Sual coal plants resulted in its incurring P15 billion in losses due to what it claimed was a change in circumstances after the PSAs were signed in 2010.
Recently, cause-oriented groups protested against SMC's LNG projects in Batangas as they fear it will affect major livelihood sources, including the fishing and tourism sectors in the province.
SMC's 1.7-gigawatt gas-to-power project also threatens the Verde Island Passage, known to marine scientists as the "Amazon of the Oceans" and "Center of Marine Shore Fish Biodiversity."
"Endangering the health of Verde Island Passage is equivalent to putting at risk the livelihoods of those who rely on its bounty, and the communities who deserve clean waters and clean air, electricity consumers who plea for affordable, clean, and renewable sources of energy, and our common home that is longing for respite from destruction," said Father Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect VIP and one of the heads of the campaign for SMC's ecological responsibility.
SMC Global Power and its subsidiaries have seven proposed natural gas projects, comprising nearly half of the country's 29.9-GW LNG expansion plans, according to data from the Department of Energy. The conglomerate is, thus, the biggest fossil gas plant developer in Southeast Asia.
SMC must heed the call to abandon its fossil gas projects in the pipeline and instead exert its resources to advance renewable energy, which the group said: It is very much capable of."
As a leader in the Philippine energy industry, it has the responsibility to take the lead in safeguarding the environment.
