Aside from being displaced from their lands, farmers were subjected to intimidation from private armies, harassment, and fabricated charges.
By Viggo Sarmago
MANILA—A movement opposing large destructive solar energy projects was launched by peasant organizations, student groups, environmentalists, scientists and church communities to fight for the land and livelihood of those affected.
Movement Against Destructive Solar Farms (Madsolar) was launched on June 29 in response to destructive solar energy projects in Central Luzon.
In a statement, the group said that the alliance “stands firm in the fight against destructive solar farm projects in order to amplify the calls for the protection of the environment and assert the rights of the peasantry.”
The alliance established the “preliminary consolidation of the growing number of farmers who refuse to let Solar Energy technology be used as a tool by imperialist nations and bureaucratic capitalists to greenwash Filipinos and unjustly convert the use of their lands and risk food security in the country for selfish interests.”
The alliance cited the ongoing MTerra Solar Project of the Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGEN) and UK- based company Actis, now acquired by US-based capital firm General Atlantic. The project was greenlit by the Marcos Jr. administration, in line with the government’s aggressive renewable energy boom.
The project’s construction started in November 2024 and is projected to convert 3,500 hectares of agricultural land in the municipalities of Gapan, Peñaranda, San Leonardo, and General Tinio, Nueva Ecija and San Miguel, Bulacan, making it the largest solar farm in the Philippines. Once completed, the $4-billion (over P200 billion) project is said to supply clean energy to approximately 2.4 million households every year. MGEN stated that the project will provide more jobs and boost economic development.
However, several farmers from Bayanihang Magsasaka ng Sangilo Association Inc. (BMSAI) and Sitio Sangilo United Farmers Association Inc. (SSUFAI) stressed that aside from being displaced from their lands, farmers were subjected to intimidation from private armies, harassment, and fabricated charges. They were also not justly compensated after losing land.
Mary Jean Bota, BMSAI spokesperson, expressed her anger recalling the trumped-up charges against them filed by 4th District of Nueva Ecija Cong. Emerson Pascual.
“They are demons that come to our lands to destroy our crops and farms…The land of the Philippines should belong to Filipinos, not to foreign interests and a select few.” she said in Filipino.
The alliance said that this project will only hurt the environment, despite it being labeled “green.” They said that to make way for the solar farm, the widespread cutting of trees and plants would displace the local habitat and subsequently increase temperatures, drying up integral water sources such as streams and wells.
They warned that the creation and eventual disposal of defunct solar panels to landfills could potentially poison the land for a long time since panels contain silicon, cadmium, and gallium.
“Green Solution or green illusion? We support renewable energy as a technology for public good but it should not be used by the ruling class as a tool for plunder and high profits,” said Cathleed De Guzman of Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.
The alliance said that people-centered solutions should be pursued instead, and demanded the abolition of the Land Use Conversion policy, Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), Oil Deregulation Law, and Rice Liberalization law. They called for genuine agrarian reform and genuine national development where public services are not controlled by private and foreign entities.
The alliance affirmed their commitment to organize and mobilize farmers, Indigenous peoples, and other groups to oppose and combat land grabbers and destructive solar projects like MTerra Solar in order to defend their rights, land, welfare, and the environment. (AMU, DAA)
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