• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the San Carlos Diocese has urged policymakers to prioritize moral and social responsibility in energy governance, with focus on three key groups — poor communities, the environment, and future generations.
Alminaza, who also heads Caritas Philippines, emphasized that energy is a fundamental question of justice and dignity, and warned that emergency fixes to power shortages must not create long-term harms.
“The poor should not pay for power they do not receive. Light is dignity,” Alminaza said at the joint congressional hearing on the Visayas power crisis in Bacolod City Oct. 3. He noted that impoverished households bear the brunt of rising costs and frequent brownouts while lacking the resources to cushion the impact.
The bishop expressed concern over the recurring power alerts in the Visayas grid, with 160 yellow and red alerts logged from January to September 2026, with coal plants repeatedly cited as major contributors to the region’s power supply shortages.
He questioned whether government agencies and generation companies are being held accountable for failing to deliver contracted commitments.
Alminaza cautioned against relying on temporary, or fossil-fuel-heavy solutions, to address the region’s supply gaps, adding that decisions made today will directly dictate the environmental and economic conditions inherited by future generations.
“We owe it to the next generation to really think of them. Of course, there is an emergency and temptation to just offer an immediate solution but compromise the rest of the ecosystem,” he told solons and concerned government agencies during the hearing.
The bishop advocated for a faster, just transition toward distributed energy resources and renewable energy projects, such as those outlined in the Secure Negros roadmap, to ensure a resilient, affordable, and sustainable power grid for the region. | TMD
