‘DOH can assist in expediting shift to RE’

MANILA, Philippines — Sustainable development think tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) has urged the Department of Health (DOH) to assist in expediting the Philippines’ shift to 100 percent renewable energy (RE) after the agency issued its support for the phase-out of fossil fuels.

The DOH last Tuesday expressed its support for the call made by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other health groups worldwide to phase out fossil fuels, citing its harmful effects on health and the environment.

CEED deputy executive director Avril De Torres said the DOH’s statement comes at a most opportune time, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling for an intervention to halt the world’s addiction to fossil fuels.

However, De Torres said the DOH’s call still falls short as it only lobbies for a “national plan against the minimal use of fuel in the country.”

She said this is a watered-down version of the global treaty’s fossil fuel phase-out.

“As the main public health agency of the country, we view DOH’s statement as a critical turning point in exposing the evils of fossil fuels to the greater public who have long fallen victim to advertising ploys and misleading promises by corporate giants involved in the industry,” De Torres said.

“DOH must put forward concrete curtailment of fossil fuels that have been globally established as a health hazard,” she said.

According to the CEED, the existence of fossil fuel projects highlights the health disparity that communities exposed to such projects are subjected to.

It said a 2020 study showed that an estimated 27,000 premature deaths are attributed to fossil fuel air production in the Philippines.

“We also challenge the DOH to look into another health menace in the form of fossil gas, a fossil fuel that is mainly methane – a potent greenhouse gas,” De Torres said.

“From extraction to processing, fossil gas involves hazardous substances including those that cause cancer, interfere with hormones, trigger asthma and contaminate the local environment through airborne pollution and wastewater. There is growing evidence linking reproductive and respiratory health impacts to communities living near gas wells,” she said.

The CEED said there are currently six gas-fired powered plants in the country, five of which are in Batangas, “that put Filipinos at risk of adverse health impacts.”

The sustainable development think tank, however, recognized that the responsibility to protect communities from the harmful effects of fossil fuels is not solely on the DOH.

It said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the main body tasked to implement the Philippine Clean Air Act, has failed to update the air quality guidelines based on the new WHO guidelines and the latest science.