As the Philippine government enters the review period for the coal operating contract on Semirara Island in Antique ahead of its 2027 expiration, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza on Sunday, Jan. 18, called for its total shutdown.
Alminaza, Caritas Philippines president, in a pastoral statement called on the government not to extend, reissue, or rebrand the coal operating contract.
He also urged government “to begin the implementation of a decisive coal phaseout combined with a real and just energy transition that is community-centered, measurable and accountable , thus, restoring livelihoods, protecting ecosystems, and investing in renewable energy”.
“The time to end coal in the Philippines is now. To delay is to choose harm. To act is to choose life,” Alminaza said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently determining whether to extend the operations of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. or to offer the site to other firms as the deadline approaches.
Semirara hosts the largest open-pit coal mine in the Philippines, yet Alminaza reminded the public that the island was once a place of extraordinary life.
It was home to nearly all known mangrove species in the country and was once sustained by fishing, seaweed farming, and healthy coastal ecosystems, he said.
The bishop said that coal mining has forcibly reorganized the island around extraction, placing land, sea, and labor at the service of corporate profit while systematically dismantling the livelihoods that once defined the community.
Alminaza said in the 1980s seaweed farming supported nearly a third of the Semirara population, improving food security and allowing families to keep children in school.
When coal operations intensified, pollution followed, coal particulates and wastewater damaged aquaculture areas, causing farms to collapse and forcing families to relocate at great personal cost, he said.
Alminaza labeled this situation “manufactured poverty,” calling it a direct result of policy choices that treat the livelihoods of the poor as expendable.
He noted that while billions in profit have been extracted by corporate interests, the families of Semirara remain trapped in a cycle of dependency, risk, and economic uncertainty.
The Church, he emphasized, cannot bless an economy that survives by wounding the poor, stating that to delay action is to consciously choose harm over life and ignore the systemic suffering of local communities.*
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