PROTECT THE AMAZON OF THE OCEANS:
Financial institutions, withdraw your support from fossil gas and
LNG projects in the VIP!
The Philippines is home to the Amazon of the Oceans - the Verde Island Passage (VIP), one of the richest, most productive, and biodiverse marine areas in the world. It is a marine corridor stretching more than 1.4 million hectares, and is the center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity in the world - home to 60% of all the world’s known shore fish species, which trickle on to the rest of the Coral Triangle.3 It houses over 1,736 fish species, 338 coral species, and thousands of others.
The Amazon of the Oceans support food security globally and life on Earth, with the Philippines serving as one of the top seafood producers and exporters in the world.6 It is a crucial source of livelihood for millions of Filipinos through local tourism, fishing, and other marine industries.
Despite the many important roles it plays, there are numerous developments in surrounding areas that now threaten VIP. Its diverse marine life is vulnerable to careless tourism, chemical and water pollution, unsustainable fishing practices, and improper waste disposal, to name a few. But none of this is as destructive as the massively expanding fossil gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in Batangas.
With hard won victories of communities and civic movements against coal in the Philippines resulting in a shrinking coal pipeline, the country now turns its eyes to another fossil fuel as its next preferred energy source. Authorities in energy development are falling for - and turning into peddlers of - the deceptions of the fossil gas industry: that fossil gas is cheap, reliable, and the bridge fuel needed on the way to a clean energy future. The Amazon of the Oceans is the unfortunate epicenter of massive expansion plans for fossil gas as Batangas, one of four provinces in its vicinity, houses not only 5 of 6 existing gas plants nationally, but also 8 of 27 proposed new plants, or 11.8 GW of the total 29.6 GW, and 7 of 9 planned terminals.
Today, projects in the most advanced development stages in Batangas provide a glimpse to the destruction the whole fleet of new fossil gas and LNG will bring in the VIP and other impacted areas. Case in point are Brgys. Ilijan and Dela Paz, the site of the Linseed Field Power Corporation and Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Co.’s LNG terminal, set to be among the first LNG import facilities in the country.
As of March 12, 2022, Linseed-AG&P has flattened the coastal project site, amid concerns on the legality of their land clearing and conversion of the project site’s zoning from agroforestry to industrial. Soil carved out of the hill area is now dumped into the sea - and on top of underwater marine life in the area - to make way for the import facility’s jetty. In the distance, the 1,200 MW Ilijan gas plant continues to spew dirty air and unnaturally warm water back into the sea as it has been doing in the last two decades.
If all continues as proponents have planned, the power plant intends to receive its fossil gas supply from Linseed’s terminal by June 2022, alongside a new 1,700 MW plant of energy giant San Miguel Corporation (SMC) which seeks to begin the commissioning stage of its first unit before the year ends.
In October 2021, researchers and divers studied the impacts to marine life should the projects push through. These were some of the snapshots from study sites along the coast of the Ilijan-Dela Paz projects, where Linseed’s jetty is now also being built:
Marine life along the coast of Linseed-AG&P’s terminal, October 2021
On top of pre-construction destruction, Linseed-AG&P’s new terminal and the rest of the Batangas pipeline will herald increased shipping activities in the VIP.
VIP is but the tip of the iceberg in the looming destruction the fossil gas industry is set to cause. Similar impacts will be mirrored by the coastal communities to host the proposed fossil gas projects across the country, many of them thanks to SMC, the same company that preciously spearheaded coal expansion in the country: a 300 MW LNG plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental facing the Tanon Strait; a 600 MW LNG plant in the coastal and agricultural municipality of Tabango, Leyte; a 300 MW LNG plant in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur; and a monstrous 12-unit, 6,492 MW LNG facility in the country’s fishing capital, Navotas, to name a few.
The massive expansion of fossil gas projects in the Philippines and Asia are also a death sentence to vulnerable communities and ecosystems in the face of a raging climate crisis. However, the fossil gas industry is no savior from a coal-based energy sector. While less carbon intensive than coal, it releases large amounts of methane—a greenhouse gas whose capacity to trap heat is 80 times more than CO2 over a 20-year period.
This expansion would not happen if not for the government and private actors, particularly financial institutions, fanning the flames of fossil gas. There is still time before more coasts in VIP and elsewhere are made barren, more waters are stripped of life, and new gas plants and terminals begin their deadly operations. We urge you not to be culprit to the destruction of the Amazon of the Oceans. We also advise you to exercise the highest degree of diligence by assessing the risks of investing in fossil gas projects amidst tightening regulations on air and water pollution, energy transition policies, climate litigation risks, and strong opposition from the various sectors of society. It is not too late for you to figure out that fossil gas projects are a terrible investment.
Stop Linseed-AG&P, SMC, and other gas projects in VIP! Protect the Amazon of the Oceans and all affected communities and life systems in the Philippines and Asia from fossil gas!
SIGNED:
Protect VIP Campaign Network, Philippines
Power for People Coalition (P4P), Philippines
Green Thumb Coalition (GTC), Philippines
Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Philippines
Archdiocese of Manila - Ministry on Ecology, Philippines
Archdiocesan Ministry on Environment (AMEn), Batangas, Philippines
Association of Small Farmers in Purok Ilaya (ASFa-PI), Philippines
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers/BMP), Philippines
Bukluran ng Manggagawanag Pilipino - Negros, Philippines
Bukluran ng mga Mangingisda ng Batangas (BMB), Philippines
Caritas, Philippines
Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Philippines
Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST), Philippines
Convergence of Initiatives for Environmental Justice, Philippines
Coal Free Bataan Movement, Philippines
Concerned Citizens of Sta. Cruz, Zambales (CCOS), Philippines
Diocese of San Carlos, Negros Occidental, Philippines
EcoWaste Coalition, Philippines
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Philippines
Group of Environmental Socialist (GOES), Philippines
Health Care Without Harm, Philippines
In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND), Philippines
Kahugpungan sa Mag-uumang Ormocanon, Inc., Philippines
Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod - Negros, Philippines
Lao FisherFolks Organization, Philippines
Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM), Philippines
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center - Friends of the Earth, Philippines
Living Laudato Si' Philippines
Lunhaw, Diocese of San Carlos, Philippines
Mindoro Greens, Philippines
Ministry of Ecology, Diocese of Lucena, Philippines
No Burn Pilipinas, Philippines
Nuclear Free Bataan Movement, Philippines
Oceana International, Philippines
Oriang Eastern Visayas, Philippines
Pagasa Youth Association of the Philippines (PYAP) Cadiz, Philippines
Pagtinabangay Foundation, Philippines
Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI), Philippines
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice - Mindanao, Philippines
Quezon for Environment (QUEEN), Philippines
REpower Negros, Philippines
Rizal Community Fishermen Cooperative (RCFC), Philippines
Sablayan Seafoods Fishermen Cooperative (SSFC), Philippines
Salika Agriculture Cooperative in Mindoro, Philippines
Samahan ng Kababaihan sa Rizal, Philippines
Sanlakas, Philippines
Save Sual Movement, Philippines
Sectoral Transparency Alliance on Natural Resource Governance, Cebu, Philippines
Sectoral Center for Policy Reforms (SCPR), Philippines
Sipaway Seagrass Guardians, Negros Occidental, Philippines
Social Action Center of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan - Fr. Edwin Gariguez, Philippines
SOS Earth, Philippines
St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish, Philippines
350 Pilipinas, Philippines
WomanHealth Philippines - Ormoc, Philippines
Women’s Organization for Reform, Development, and Solidarity, Philippines
YES Mindoro, Philippines
Zambales Lingap Kalikasan (ZALIKA), Philippines
Zambales Movement for Climate Justice, Philippines
Zero Hour, Philippines
Save the Beauty of La Union, Philippines
Aid/Watch, Australia
ALTSEAN, Burma
Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Asia
BankTrack, Netherlands
Blue Dalian, China
Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC), Uganda
Climaximo, Portugal
Conservation Council WA, Australia
ENVIRONICS TRUST, India
Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area, USA
Friends of the Earth, Japan
Friends of the Earth, USA
Green Longjiang, China
Growthwatch, India
Honor the Earth, USA
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), Japan
Jubilee Australia
Justice Institute, Guyana
Kiko Network, Japan
KRuHA - People's Coalition for the Right to Water, Indonesia
Latinoamérica Sustentable, Latin America
Les Amis de la Terre / Friends of the Earth, France
Manushya Foundation, Thailand
Mekong Watch, Japan
NGO Forum on ADB, Asia
Oil Change International, USA
Oyu Tolgoi Watch, Mongolia
Rainforest Action Network, USA
ReCommon, Europe
Rivers without Boundaries Coalition, Mongolia
RwB, North Eurasia
Scholar Tree Alliance, China
Snow Alliance, China
350 Colorado, USA
350 Hawaii, USA
350.org, Asia
350.org, Japan
350 Conejo / San Fernando Valley, USA
Third Act Virginia, USA
Turtle Island Restoration Network, USA
Urgewald, Germany
University of Montana, USA
Uplift, UK
Youth Emergency Auxiliary Service Sierra Leone, West Africa
Zero Hour, SouthEast Asia
Zero Hour, USA
End notes:
1Conservation International Philippines, “Protecting the Natural Riches of the Verde Island Passage”, accessed April 22, 2021 at https://www.conservation.org/philippines/projects/verde-island-passage
2 Saul Pa-a, “Declaration of Verde Island Passage as World Heritage Site sought”, Philippine News Agency, September 24, 2018. Accessed on April 23, 2021 at https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1048958
2 Conservation International Philippines, “Protecting the Natural Riches of the Verde Island Passage”
4 Coral Triangle Initiative, “Five Provinces And National Agencies Join Forces To Protect And Conserve The Verde Island Passage”, April6, 2017, Accessed on May 3, 2021 at https://www.coraltriangleinitiative.org/index.php?q=news/five-provinces-and-national-agencies-join-forces-protect-and-conserve-verde-island-passage
5 Shana Angela S. Cervania, “Protect VIP for the sake of its ecosystem and local communities –SEA Institute”, Manila Standard Digital. September 30, 2019. Accessed on May 3, 2021 at https://manilastandard.net/biyahero/travel-logs/307452/protect-vip-for-the-sake-of-its-ecosystem-and-local-communities-sea-institute.html
6 Jennifer Viron, “Country Fisheries Trade: Philippines”, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center. Accessed on October 5, 2021 at http://www.seafdec.org/country-fisheries-trade-philippines/.
7 Shana Angela S. Cervania, “Protect VIP for the sake of its ecosystem and local communities –SEA Institute”, Manila Standard Digital. September 30, 2019. Accessed on May 3, 2021 at https://manilastandard.net/biyahero/travel-logs/307452/protect-vip-for-the-sake-of-its-ecosystem-and-local-communities-sea-institute.html.
8 Official Gazette, “Executive Order 578” or “Establishing The National Policy On Biological Diversity, Prescribing Its Implementation Throughout The Country, Particularly In The Sulu Sulawesi Marine Ecosystem And The Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor”, accessed on April 18, 2021 at https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2006/11/08/executive-order-no-578/
9 The task force is composed of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), and all concerned local government units
10 Agencies include DENR, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)
11 Shana Angela S. Cervania, “Protect VIP for the sake of its ecosystem and local communities –SEA Institute”
12 Union of Concerned Scientists, “Environmental Impacts of Natural Gas.”, Accessed at https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/environmental-impacts-natural-gas
[1] IPCC, 2021: Technical Summary, p. TS-67
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