Business VIPs in the VIP

Remarkably admirable is this move by three of the country’s biggest conglomerates — that are likewise among the biggest Philippine energy players — to join forces with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Energy and pour resources to safeguard the Verde Island Passage (VIP), which is regarded by marine biology experts as the “center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity.”

Sealed last 7 May was a Memorandum of Understanding among the DENR, DOE, Metro Pacific Investment Corporation (MPIC), San Miguel Corp. (SMC), and Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) whose chairman, Sabin Aboitiz, is the lead convenor and lead for the infrastructure sector in the government’s Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC).

It should be noted that one of the private sector partners in this endeavor, SMC, had been connected to the sinking off Naujan town, Oriental Mindoro of an oil tanker carrying some 900,000 liters of industrial oil in February last year.

That led to a massive oil spill that reached the coasts of provinces around Verde Island Passage, including Verde Island itself — an islet comprised of six villages in Batangas City, which is at the heart of the world’s most critical marine biodiversity center.

Covering an area of over 1.4-million hectares spanning Batangas, Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Romblon and Marinduque provinces, the VIP is one of the Philippines’ busiest shipping corridors; in fishing alone, it yields some P1 billion a year.

The importance of the VIP cannot be stressed enough, and the MOU between the government and the business conglomerates was hailed by DENR Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo Loyzaga as a “historic initiative” underscoring “the collective commitment to environmental preservation” in the country.

Quite a feat for the government, through the DENR and DOE, to lasso three big guns in Philippine business and industry to commit not only resources but also actively participate in efforts to safeguard the VIP. And, while no mention of a specific amount has yet been divulged, massive resources indeed shall this undertaking need.

Still and all, not a few, particularly among green advocates, eye the three conglomerates in VIP protection and preservation efforts with some cynicism.

For instance, Gerry Arances, executive director of the non-government Center for Energy, Ecology and Development and co-convenor of Protect VIP, a network of civil society, youth, and Church-based groups committed to VIP preservation, welcomes the effort to preserve the VIP which provides livelihood and sustenance for millions of Filipinos.

However, he said his group could not help but raise questions about the sincerity of the MOU between the DENR and the tycoons, “considering that their fossil gas business is one of the worst risks confronting the VIP.”

The big business VIP stewards, through companies they control, namely, Meralco PowerGen Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp. and San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp., had inked in early March a gargantuan $3.3-billion joint deal to build the country’s first, most expansive liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Batangas.

SMC’s Ang stated that the “preservation of marine resources (in the VIP) is crucial not just for today but for future generations.”

MPIC’s Pangilinan stressed that “in the quest to provide clean, reliable and affordable energy to our people, we must make sure that we also pay attention to safeguarding the environment and the communities, and uplift the welfare of the communities, in this case, the people who are dependent on the Verde Island Passage for their livelihood.”

Considering that the three tycoons’ massive facility will soon join four of seven proposed LNG terminals, five of six existing fossil gas facilities, and nine of 39 gas power plants being proposed in the country in Batangas province, we can only hope that they could come to an understanding with those who fear for the VIP and allay their anxieties over potential threats posed by big business on the marine corridor’s delicate ecosystem.