As energy investors and business leaders gather for the second day of the ASEAN Energy Business Forum, energy, environment, farmers, and consumer advocates are pressing for a nationalized energy system that puts people’s needs before private profit.
IBON Foundation, together with Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (KPNE), AGHAM Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, Professionals and Engineers for the People (PROPEL), Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU), and community and consumer groups including Movement Against Destructive Solar Farms (MAD Solar), Protect Sierra Madre (PSM), farmers from the Olongapo Solar Farm, and Save Laguna Lake Movement, held a press conference today to highlight how the country’s privatized and oligopolized energy system continues to burden Filipinos with high electricity costs while energy projects displace communities, grab land, and threaten the environment.
“The ASEAN Energy Business Forum claims to be a platform for energy inclusivity, energy transition for economic growth, energy innovation and resilience—but for whom? Filipinos need cheaper electricity rates immediately, but essentially, we need an energy system that is publicly controlled and oriented toward people’s needs, not toward securing profits for investors and energy corporations,” said IBON Executive Director Sonny Africa.
Community residents from Nueva Ecija, Talim Island in Laguna, Olongapo, and the Sierra Madre shared the experiences of communities affected by big-business energy projects and infrastructure. Farmer Marvin Resilva of Nueva Ecija’s MADSolar discussed the large-scale land grabbing and displacement linked to MTerra, one of the biggest renewable energy projects existing. Sean Rosales of the Save Laguna Lake Movement discussed how Talim Island residents face militarization and oppose the proposed Vena Energy project.
Representing communities in Olongapo, Mansaway’s Rica Torres raised the displacement of indigenous peoples and the impacts of big-business solar projects, while Daisy Macapanpan of PSM discussed threats to communities and the environment from the proposed Sierra Madre offshore wind project.
KMP Chair Emeritus Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano highlighted the continuing agrarian problems faced by farmers, including the need for genuine land reform versus the expansion of corporate projects into agricultural areas.
The groups said these experiences counter the government’s promotion of private energy investments as the solution to the country’s energy needs. Despite decades of privatization, Filipinos continue to face high electricity rates and energy insecurity, while private energy corporations expand their control over the sector.
IBON said the government should instead pursue national industrialization and public control of strategic energy resources and services. PROPEL’s Julius Roa underscored that this will enable not only affordable and accessible electricity—a basic public need—but economic development powered by the country’s vast energy potential, benefiting millions of Filipinos.
“The ASEAN Energy Business Forum is bringing investors together to strengthen the role of private capital in the energy sector. We are here to put forward the other side: energy should serve the people, not corporate profit,” IBON said. ###
