Churches in Quezon and Negros provinces have unfurled banners urging Philippine banks to stop financing coal projects.
Environmental groups have been strongly advocating the shift to clean, renewable-energy sources by harnessing the power of the sun and the wind and junking coal-fired power plant projects, which they consider as a major source of air pollution and contributor to greenhouse gas.
The move by Negros and Quezon churches came a week ahead of the celebration of Earth Day on April 22 as the call is for Philippine banks was to “Restore our Earth” in line with the 2021 theme of the annual celebration.
In the Diocese of Lucena, 15 major parishes participated in the symbolic initiative, including Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Atimonan, Saint Buenaventure Parish in Mauban, Saint Catherine of Alexandria Parish in Pagbilao, and Saint John the Baptist Parish in Tiaong.
“We cannot gather on the streets or in the Church’s halls to unite in prayer and action as many of the faithful do on Earth Day in normal circumstances, but that does not make addressing the climate crisis any less urgent. These banners we place at the front of our Churches symbolize the Church’s long-standing commitment to pursue ecological conversion and energy transformation to protect our common home. That would begin with moving away from coal,” Fr. Warren Puno, director of the Ministry of Ecology of the Diocese of Lucena in Quezon said in a news statement issued through the movement Withdraw from Coal (WFC).
Quezon is dubbed by residents and clean energy advocates as the Philippines’s coal capital, with three coal-fired power plants with a total installed capacity of 2.195 giga watts currently operating in the province.
As of December 2020, three more projects are reported to be in the pipeline.
“If it were not for the banks and investors providing financial support to coal, our province would not have been tied down to decades of environmental degradation and health and livelihood problems,” added Puno.
The initiative was also joined by parishes in the Diocese of San Carlos in Negros Occidental.
“Our beloved Negros takes pride in being called the renewable-energy capital of the Philippines, but our heart goes to Quezon and all other communities in the Philippines suffering at the hand of coal proponents, especially since San Carlos is also the site of a proposed 300 megawatt coal plant,” San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said in the same statement.
Alminaza is a convener of WFC, which is currently conducting another assessment of Philippine banks’ coal exposure.
“We are still full of hope that the restoration of our Common Home is possible, and that we can unite together toward it. As corporate citizens, Philippine banks, too, must do their part swiftly and decisively by immediately restricting and eventually phasing out their financing for coal,” he said.