Complaints alleging corruption and grave misconduct have been filed by progressive groups before the Office of the Ombudsman against Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, probably the most — if not the only — ascetic member of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Cabinet.

The main meat of the complaints? That Lotilla allegedly violated a 2020 coal moratorium on greenfield (new) coal-fired power projects issued by the previous Duterte administration.

The basis for the complaint by Sanlakas and Power for People’s Coalition, along with the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, is the Department of Energy’s endorsement of Toledo, Cebu-based Therma Visayas Energy Project’s expansion plan.

The P41-billion 340-MW two-unit coal-fired Therma Visayas Energy Project is an existing project started in 2014 by Aboitiz Power and the Escaño-Garcia-owned Vivant Corporation.

Project construction started in 2015, and in January 2018 Aboitiz Power announced that construction was 90 percent done. Unit 1 was commissioned in April 2019 and by October 2019, Unit 2 became operational.

In August 2023, Aboitiz Power reported that it was considering expanding the Therma Visayas project with a third 150-MW unit and by January 2024, the project’s expansion unit was included in the DoE’s list of private sector initiated power projects with completion date targeted for June 2027.

But then, on 18 July 2024, the aforesaid complaints against the DoE chief were filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

With a Bachelor of Laws degree from UP and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Michigan, Lotilla’s career credentials, particularly in the energy sector, are nothing short of impressive. He had served as Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) president and chief operating officer.

Once, as adviser and supervising official of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) Secretariat, the advisory and consultative body to the President and the Legislature, he was sought to help craft the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 that privatized the Philippine power sector’s entire supply chain.

Friends and associates know him as that rare breed of top public official who hasn’t enriched himself in office. In fact, at one time, people who know him well could attest to the fact that he did not own a house, did not own a car, not even a TV set. He was so frugal that at one point in his life, he earned a Meralco designation as a lifeline customer for consuming less than a hundred kilowatt–hours of electricity a month. In short, the current DoE secretary is asceticism defined.

As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the criminal complaint that was filed against him for corruption either startled Lotilla or caused him to topple over in laughter.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has come to his defense, stressing that the 2020 moratorium on coal-fired power projects “is quite clear: it applies to greenfield power-generated facility projects (and) existing and operational coal-fired power generation facilities, coal-fired power projects classified as committed, while existing power plant complexes with firm expansion plans are not affected by the moratorium.”

The country’s largest private business association also saw the complaints against Lotilla as possibly discouraging foreign investors from investing in the country.

“Morever,” the PCCI said, “we need to learn from and be reminded of the Panay power outage incident, summer red and yellow alerts, and the recent typhoon Carina” that caused power outages.

In June, Lotilla said that while there is massive room for growth for renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, their current contribution to the power mix remains at only 22 percent, a level far from the goal which is to reach 35 percent in six years, a target set by the government.

Thus, it seems that in the meantime government has little choice but to depend on coal-fired power plants which currently supplies 62 percent of the country’s needs to make sure there is enough power to keep homes, businesses and industries running.

Lotilla insists the government “is not setting aside its responsibility to ensure adequate baseload capacities (that is, ready power in the country’s transmission system to satisfy demand) along with the push to increase the share of renewables in the power mix.”

Maximizing the use of existing energy infrastructure facilities “prevents us from adding cost burdens on consumers and the economy as a whole,” said Lotilla, pointing out that such facilities would greatly help the country satisfy peak demand growth projected at 5.3 percent between the current period until 2028.

The cause-oriented groups will make their case on the matter, and Lotilla will argue his. We hope for a resolution, of course. But in the meantime, we just hope that in the clash between these two opposed forces, they don’t lost sight of the future that we dream of, in a country where we can all breathe in better, purer air.