The poor suffer most from global warming, 1

BY FR. SHAY CULLEN

IT IS THE poor that suffer the most from global warming. They are in despair of escaping poverty and they endure the unbearable life in the slums where the incredible heat relentlessly beats down.

With the average temperatures ranging from 36-40 degrees Celsius and a heat wave for several weeks, we ask, is this the impact of climate change and will it be like this more frequently?

According to climatologists, the answer is yes. We are in for a hotter climate and the poor are suffering the effects more acutely than the better off. Drought is one of the worst effects causing a failure of harvests, loss of crops, less food, more malnutrition, longer sickness and children unable to go to school. The outdoor workers are exhausted from the extreme heat.

We can hear the climate experts saying, “We told you so, 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history and 2024 may be even hotter.” Are they the prophets of doom or are they our ignored rejected saviors? They are voices of truth crying in the wilderness, begging governments and industry to listen and act intelligently to save the planet. They advise the power brokers of the world, political and industrial leaders, to phase out coal, oil and gas, and rush the construction of more renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydro and geo-thermal power plants.

The Philippines has an abundance of this “free” source of energy given by nature but it requires investment. The Philippines’ environmental law has given generous tax and other incentives to investors to build renewable power plants across the nation such as low income tax holiday (ITH) and import tax exemption on the equipment, spare parts and needed materials for construction. There is exemption from VAT payments and they can employ foreign experts and get a green light through Customs. That, however, may flicker knowing the inability of some custom officials to resist temptations. For them, delay means more pay.

The Secretary of the Department of Energy, Raphael P.M. Lotilla, has a mighty challenge to make the renewable power plants a reality to save the Philippines from the worst of global warming. In December 2023, the Secretary awarded 27 permits to corporations to proceed with solar plants in the Pangasinan towns of Burgos, Labrador, Aguilar, Villasis, Anda, Mabini, Binalonan, Sison, Umingan and Calasiao. In Santa Barbara, there is the Solar Project 1 and 2, which are being built by One Manaoag Solar Corporation in the towns of Santa Barbara and Mapandan. Then, there is Ayala Corporation Solar, through its partner ACEN, that is building the 60-megawatt (MW) Santo Domingo Solar Power Project in San Manuel town, Aboitiz’s 94-MW Cayanga-Bugallon Solar Power Project in Bugallon town and the 3 Barracuda Energy Corp.’s 530-MW in Bugallon. In Zambales, Ayala and Acen and Aboitiz both have solar plants underway. They are being challenged to replant all the trees and more that they cut down in Zambales.

I ask readers to please message me if they see any construction of solar power plants in the countryside near their towns. (To be continued)/PN