A faith-based environmental group has accused San Miguel Corporation (SMC) of profiting from fossil fuel expansion while communities living near its gas projects face worsening environmental and social impacts.
Protect Verde Island Passage (VIP) issued the criticism after SMC reported a net income of P42.2 billion from January to September, a 215 percent increase from P13.5 billion in the same period last year.
The group said the gains were driven by SMC’s LNG deal with Meralco PowerGen Corp. and Therma Natgas Power Inc. through their joint venture Chromite Gas Holdings Inc.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect VIP, said the profit spike “stands in stark contrast to the reality on the ground: across the country, including in host communities of SMC’s gas projects, people are reeling from one disaster after another.”
He added that these impacts are “only worsened by the corruption recently exposed in flood-control projects, further revealing how dirty deals erode public safety and climate resilience.”
Gariguez also criticized SMC President Ramon Ang’s public pledge in August to “fix” Metro Manila’s flooding at “no cost to the government.”
“The promise would be almost admirable – if it were not so deeply ironic. It is absurd for SMC to posture as a savior when its own aggressive fossil fuel expansion and questionable infrastructure projects have helped fuel the very crises that now endanger our communities,” he said.
Protect VIP said fishers and coastal families continue to bear the brunt of what it called SMC’s “gas buildout,” pointing to “drastic declines in fish catch, worsening water and air pollution, and persistent noise disturbances that make once-thriving communities increasingly unlivable.”
These impacts, the group warned, threaten the Verde Island Passage, which it described as “one of the world’s most biodiverse marine corridors, now threatened by SMC’s continued pursuit of profit over people and the environment.”
“We maintain that there is no such thing as ethical wealth creation when it is built on the exploitation of irreplaceable ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. SMC’s soaring profits must be scrutinized, not celebrated,” said Gariguez.
