“Thank you, Lord”.
San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza offered prayers and, at the same time, thanked everyone who had opposed the establishment of a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in northern Negros.
Alminaza made the gesture as reports from Manila earlier this week indicated that the SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of beverage giant San Miguel Corporation, has junked earlier plans to invest in San Carlos City.
“Thank you, Lord. Thank you, people who helped us put up a good fight against coal in Negros,” Alminaza, also a known environmental advocate, wrote on his Facebook post last Oct. 28.
The prelate added:”We remain coal-free and still actively pursuing the path towards a 100 percent clean, affordable renewable energy in the island of Negros”.
The four dioceses in the island –San Carlos, Bacolod and Kabankalan in Negros Occidental, and Dumaguete in Negros Oriental– actually took a common stance against the proposed coal plant project.
The Church found an ally in the late Gov. Alfredo Maranon, Jr., who, in March 2019, issued Executive Order 19-08 declaring Negros Occidental as a coal-free province.
Maranon also prodded the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to pass an ordinance opposing the entry of the coal plant as thousands, mostly students, protested in front of the Capitol. ETL
