03/08/2026
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ
In the fifth State of the Nation Address, one chair remained conspicuously empty at our national table: the environment.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spoke about electricity prices, petroleum service contracts, hydrogen projects, and nuclear energy. He did not address the climate crisis, destructive mining, or the communities threatened by the continued expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
This omission is difficult to accept at a time when Filipino families are paying some of the highest electricity rates in Southeast Asia while enduring stronger storms, floods, droughts, and the loss of farms, fishing grounds, and livelihoods. For millions of Filipinos, the environmental crisis is no longer merely ecological. It is economic, social, and deeply human.
The presidentโs call to remove systems loss charges from electricity bills is welcome. Consumers should never have been made to pay for losses they did not cause. But this is a demand they have raised for decades. It cannot be presented as a sufficient response to the energy crisis.
The heavier burden comes from high generation costs and the countryโs dependence on imported coal and gas. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, these costs are passed on to consumers while power companies are shielded from fuel price increases and supply disruptions.
EPIRA must not be amended only to remove systems loss charges. The entire policy and regulatory framework governing electricity needs to be overhauled. After 25 years, the law has not delivered affordable and reliable power. It has increasingly treated electricity as a commodity for private profit rather than as an essential public service and a common good.
We welcome the presidentโs support for easier access to rooftop solar and battery storage. The proposed Sariling Kuryente Act could help families and communities produce their own electricity, particularly during disasters and power interruptions. This is where public investment, regulatory reform and political leadership should be directed.
But this commitment will lose its meaning if the Marcos administration continues to advance dirty energy sources, expand fossil gas infrastructure, and revive nuclear power.
Fossil gas is not clean energy. More gas terminals and power plants will deepen dependence on imported fuel, expose consumers to unstable prices, and lock the country into decades of continued fossil fuel use.
Nuclear power is not a practical answer to todayโs electricity crisis. It is costly and raises serious questions about safety, radioactive waste, public debt, and accountability. Public concerns should not be dismissed as mere misunderstanding. They require transparent, independent and participatory scrutiny because the risks, costs and long-term consequences will affect generations to come.
Renewable energy must be centered on people and the environment. Not every project is automatically just or sustainable simply because it carries the label โrenewable.โ It must not destroy forests, watersheds, and biodiversity, displace Indigenous Peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, and other communities, or place the countryโs energy future under the control of a few large corporations.
The transition to clean energy cannot become an excuse for sacrificing ancestral domains, forests, watersheds, farms, fishing grounds, and community rights through destructive mining and mineral extraction.
For Caritas, care for creation is never separate from care for the poor. The ecological crisis and the crisis of poverty are one human crisis that demands an integral response.
The environment must no longer be the empty chair at our national table. Caring for creation is not a peripheral concern. It is inseparable from protecting life, securing justice, and building a future worthy of every Filipino.
(Sgd.) Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.
Bishop of San Carlos
President, Caritas Philippines
