By Alanah Torralba
LAMAO, Philippines, May 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For Nestor Castro and the other residents of Lamao village, which sits near two coal-fired power plants and an oil refinery, the country’s shift to renewable energy cannot come soon enough.
Not only would it lessen the pollution in their village in the northern Philippines, it could also mean cheaper electricity, Castro said.
“Coal just adds to the pollution and we … have expensive electricity,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
But the country’s first tax hike on coal in 30 years, introduced in March, may signal a shift in the government’s attitude towards the fossil fuel, environmentalists say.
Today, the Philippines has some of the highest power generation charges in Southeast Asia according to the country’s energy agency.
