BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
JAPAN’S economic envoy to the Philippines tasked with securing these resources is Tadashi Maeda, chairman of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), owned by the Japanese government. He has met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Malacañang. It was announced that Maeda already had meetings with Aboitiz Group Chief Executive Officer Sabin Aboitiz, San Miguel Corp. President Ramon Ang and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Chairman Manuel Pangilinan.
These Philippine billionaires and their companies are already committed to tapping renewable energy (RE) for the Philippines, phasing out fossil fuels to save the Earth, and meeting the Philippines’ commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement and COP23.
To enter into deals to develop gas fields anywhere in the region as a member of the Japanese development plan, called the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC), would be a betrayal and reversal of the Philippines’ progress. This plan to drill for fossil fuels and export them to Japan puts President Marcos and the giant corporations involved into a bind. Their credibility and trustworthiness would be at stake.
They need to cooperate with Japan, rely on low-cost loans, get huge business contacts in the Philippines and Japan, and be faithful to their announced policies and commitments to phase out fossil fuel production and use and not to support its expansion.
The sweetener to get the President’s approval and cooperation is the audacious and disgusting promise by an unnamed Indonesian tycoon bearing promises of gifts of low-cost housing and a billion-peso hospital to help the President with his social development projects, a Malacañang spokesman said.
The Earth has broken all records for global warming this year. Environmentalists are very angry with this proposed deal to drill for fossil fuels. Already, environmental disasters are upon us because of the nonstop burning of fossil fuel, coal, gas and oil for a hundred years. The poor suffer the most. The planet has never been hotter in recorded history than it is today. Last year was the hottest on record, and 2024 is expected to worsen. The likes of Maeda put their national interest first, and global warming is not their real concern.
They are getting the Philippines to be part of AZEC. Rather than working for zero emissions, burning more gas is adding to the emissions. So, AZEC is promoting a big scam. The bigger the scam, the more will believe it. The most vocal critic of this is Gerry Arances, executive director of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development. He has denounced the Japanese plan to exploit the Philippines’ gas resources for export to Japan. He said, “AZEC has been repeatedly denounced as a ploy to promote detrimental energy in developing countries in Asia, particularly with fossil gas and unproven fossil friendly technologies.”
The efforts of Maeda to get major Philippine corporations to work with them in AZEC are detrimental to the goal of stopping burning fossil gas and reducing emissions. The opposite is absolutely necessary to save the planet and the poor from environmental disasters.
The RE projects of the abovementioned corporations are laudable, but backing fossil fuel development at the same time would make them look like idiots on the world stage and seriously damage their reputation if they go along with the AZEC plan. They can just be polite and friendly to Japan and say yes and do nothing. (preda.org)/PN
