PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) was met with protests, with groups demanding the leader immediately act on rising energy prices and cost of living.
They even urged Marcos Jr., to put on soaring prices, human rights, and other national issues.
“Marcos Jr.'s renewable energy plan roadmap is full of contradictions,” energy consumers said.
The Power for People Coalition (P4P) also expressed disappointment over President Marcos’ pronouncements on his renewable energy agenda during the said his first State of SONA.
According to Marcos that the use of renewable energy is at the top of our climate agenda,” but also said that gas remains necessary for the transition, calling for the development of new power plants and the use of natural gas as another energy source alongside renewables.
“President Marcos’ energy plans are at odds with what he promises,” said P4P Convenor Gerry Arances.
Arances said he (Marcos) cannot say that renewable energy is his top agenda when he is peddling nuclear and natural gas, both of which are not clean sources of energy, not to mention the environmental risks and hazards that come with it.
Marcos bared his plan for the enactment of an enabling law for the natural gas industry and providing incentives to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a bridge fuel.
Renewable energy is a top priority not just by saying it, but committing to minimizing, then eliminating the use of fossil fuels to protect the environment and consumers, according to Arances.
“It’s disappointing to hear him talk about incentives and bills for gas and action points for nuclear but no actual plans for renewable energy,” said Arances.
“Marcos was on point on renewable energy as a priority both for lowering costs and transition but his plans were distracted and unsound with his push for LNG and nuclear,” said Arances.
However, the more we invest in imported, expensive, capital-intensive gas-powered facilities, the harder it becomes to discard them, essentially locking us into using gas instead of moving forward to renewable energy.
“The more we rely on fossil fuels, the more consumers suffer during times of high prices in the world market, as we are experiencing now,” added Arances.
