Photo Essay Documents Plight of Communities Living Near Philippines’ Oldest Coal Plant

The farmer and fisherfolk community of Barangay Quisumbing are calling for the government to stop investing in dirty coal and start using renewable energy. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac / Piglas Pilipinas!

Community leaders voice their resistance to the expansion of the coal plant. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac / Piglas Pilipinas!

PJ Santos, of Kalikasan Peoples’ Network for the Environment, relates the community’s struggle to the national momentum of grassrooots resistance against fossil-fuel development. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac / Piglas Pilipinas!

View of the phase 3 of calaca power plant near Barangay Puting Bato,Batangas. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac / Piglas Pilipinas!

DMCI Power Corporation plans to expand the power station in three phases.Expansion Phase I, consisting of two 150-MW units, is under construction. Expansion Phase II, still under development, was initially planned as two additional 150-MW units; it was later changed to a single 350-MW unit, then to two single-unit 350-MW additional phases. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac / Piglas Pilipinas!

What used to be a part of a rest house is now in ruins because of the effect of the coal power plant’s constant dredging of the shoreline to make room for the constant. Photo credit: AC Dimatatac / Piglas Pilipinas!