Ranulfo Honoridez’s sleep has been disturbed for the past five years because the walls of his house vibrate from the noise generated by a coal-powered plant near his village in the central Philippines.
“It’s noisy in the evening, sometimes early in the morning,” said the 67-year-old Honoridez, who lives in Bato village in Toledo, Cebu province.
The 340-megawatt power plant, which began commercial operations in 2019, not only disturbs his sleep but also occasionally spews fly ash and coal dust, covering windows, doors, and doorsteps.
“The plant is the cause of the dust here. We collect the fly ash and coal dust in plastic boxes to provide evidence of its harmful impact,” said Honoridez, who is retired.
He said the plant also produces a permanent, awful smell of burning rubber, which causes persistent headaches.
About 9,000 people in Bato and nearby villages face similar hazards as they live near two coal-fired power plants, among 60 operating in the Philippines.
The plant is the cause of the dust here. We collect the fly ash and coal dust in plastic boxes to provide evidence of its harmful impact
Ranulfo Honoridez
Eight of them are in an area covering the Tañon Strait, the largest protected marine sanctuary in the country, stretching over 500,000 hectares between the major islands of Cebu and Negros.
All eight plants were built after 1998 when the government declared the strait a protected marine area.
Environmental activists say the fossil fuel-powered plants seriously impact public health and biodiversity.
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Lito Vasquez of the advocacy group Philippine Movement for Climate Justice said that a survey of 100 people living near the eight plants in 2023 found that they all suffered health issues, such as breathing difficulties. They also reported a drop in income because of fish stock depletion.
Last year, Honoridez joined a group of villagers and petitioned a local court against the plant near their homes. But he said they had yet to receive a response.
Primo Lamela, a 49-year-old development worker from Ibo, a village close to Bato, and a climate justice activist, has filed several complaints against the power plants in Toledo but without success.
Lamela said he contracted tuberculosis while his 16-year-old daughter suffers from asthma, which he believes is caused by the coal-powered plant. This year, he led a community campaign, including collecting signatures from villagers, demanding the plant be closed.
Environmental activists say the fossil fuel-powered plants seriously impact public health and biodiversity
His actions made him a target for the authorities.
On April 4, Lamela and his NGO were cited as potential threats to the peace and order of the city and were listed as supporters of the New People’s Army [NPA], the banned armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Both were also “red-tagged”—a practice widely used by security forces to crush dissent by labelling activists as communist sympathisers.
People like Lamela are concerned that the government has approved a third plant in the area, triggering further protests.
“Already the people need to spend from their limited income to treat tuberculosis, asthma, coughs, and other illnesses. It is unjust to add more coal power plants; there is a need to transition to clean and affordable renewable energy,” Lamela said.
No to coal power
For decades, opposition to the use of coal for power has recently intensified.
On September 13, more than 1,000 activists and representatives of 12 communities affected by coal pollution, including those from Toledo and neighbouring Naga City, joined a mass rally in the capital, Manila, calling for an end to fossil fuel burning in the country and across Asia.
The protesters condemned the administration of the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for allowing more coal-powered plants and aggravating further risks related to climate change in the archipelago.
Multi-sectoral group, Sanlakas, one of the rally organisers, has been calling for an Asia-wide ban on fossil fuels like coal.
“There is a coal resurgence in the country despite a coal moratorium imposed by the Energy Department in 2020,” Aaron Pedrosa, the group’s secretary general, said.
Already the people need to spend from their limited income to treat tuberculosis, asthma, coughs, and other illnesses. It is unjust to add more coal power plants; there is a need to transition to clean and affordable renewable energy
Primo Lamela
Coal plants “have devastated the climate, poisoned the land, water and air in our communities, and worsened inequalities” in poor countries like the Philippines, said the lawyer-turned-activist.
The first coal-fired power plant in the Toledo area was established in the 1960s to supply power to a large mining company. Currently, coal-fired plants account for 61.9 per cent of the country’s power generation, according to Sanlakas.
Pedrosa said that coal power is double-edged as it is environmentally risky and more expensive, citing the example of Meralco, the nation’s largest private electricity distribution company, which recently hiked energy prices across 39 cities and 72 towns it covers.
Vasquez said that in 2010, residents and activist groups in Toledo and Naga filed a case asking the court to issue an order to coal plants to stop the indiscriminate dumping of toxic coal ash in and around Toledo and Naga.
Vasquez said that the court issued an order for the protection of the environment from pollution from the power plants, but it was largely ignored.
He alleged that “some power plants store coal ash in an open area within the plants, which is susceptible to being blown away by strong winds which will affect residents living nearby.”
Rising global coal use
Major global financial organisations continue to provide funding for coal projects, from fossil fuel subsidies to public financing and private investments, said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.
Vasquez said that in 2010, residents and activist groups in Toledo and Naga filed a case asking the court to issue an order to coal plants to stop the indiscriminate dumping of toxic coal ash in and around Toledo and Naga
She said that between January 2021 and December 2023, commercial banks provided US$470 billion in loans and underwriting to the coal industry.
Philippine-based anti-coal groups recently wrote letters to Asian governments demanding decisive steps to end the expansion of coal use in their countries.
They also called for a permanent ban on new coal plants, an immediate end to direct and indirect public and private financing of coal-powered plants and a just phase-out of existing coal plants by 2035.
Nacpil said the climate crisis has prompted governments worldwide to take major strides toward ending the use of coal.
“From 2015, when the Paris Agreement was adopted, to 2021, the global pipeline of proposed coal power plants showed a 76% collapse,” Nacpil said. However, the trend has reversed, and there is a surge in coal use, particularly in Asia.
“Today, global coal use and capacity has rebounded, growing to an all-time high in 2023, driven by strong demand in Asian countries,” Nacpil observed.
She said that phasing out coal plants by 2040 would require retiring 126 gigawatts of plants per year worldwide in the next 17 years.
From 2015, when the Paris Agreement was adopted, to 2021, the global pipeline of proposed coal power plants showed a 76% collapse,
Lidy Nacpil
Catholic Church against fossil fuel
Since Pope Francis published his environmental encyclical, Laudato Si’, in 2015, Catholic organisations have tried to oppose fossil fuel use.
Coal is one of “the dirtiest sources of energy” as fossil fuels still constitute a large percentage contributing to global warming, said Jing Rey Henderson, head of communications and partnership development Caritas Philippines.
Henderson said that coal mining sites, like that of the San Miguel Corporation in the Mindanao region has displaced indigenous communities, caused divisions among tribal communities, and is a threat to food security due to land conversion.
“Communities surrounding fossil fuel plants and terminals also complain about the continuous decrease in fish catches, a decline in coral reefs and poorer water quality,” she said.
She pointed out that the Church has been vocal in opposing fossil fuel burning in areas such as the Verde Island passage, Atimonan in Quezon province, and even in ecologically critical areas like Palawan Island,.
“High dependence on fossil fuels equals to massive deforestation, land conversion, violation of indigenous peoples’ rights to their natural habitat and ancestral domains, unfair labor practices, food insecurity, and unfair government regulations or injustice in terms enforcement of laws,” she added. UCAN
