Energy chief Garin sued for allowing coal power plant in Quezon amid ban

Civil society groups Quezon for Environment (QUEEN), Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), church leaders and residents of Atimonan, Quezon on Monday filed an administrative and criminal complaint against Energy Secretary Sharon Garin before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The complaint for graft, grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service stemmed from Garin’s decision to give the green light for the Atimonan One Energy Inc. (AIE) project, a 1,200-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant, amid the DOE’s coal moratorium policy.

The groups noted that in 2020, the DOE issued a coal moratorium policy against the development of new coal-fired power plants.

They claimed that the A1E project was unduly exempted from the coal moratorium policy by Garin in July 2025.

“Despite this [ban], in July 2025, Secretary Garin exempted the Atimonan coal plant project from the moratorium even though it did not meet the requirements for exemption,” they said.

In July this year, the DOE reaffirmed the status of the coal-fired power plant project as a committed project.

The year before, the DOE – Electric Power Industry Management Bureau said the 2020 coal moratorium policy is not a total ban and does not cover existing and operational coal-fired power generation facilities and any coal-fired power projects considered as committed power projects, among others.

"Secretary Garin clearly violated her own Department’s coal moratorium when she conveniently green lighted the Atimonan coal plant despite DOE’s previous decision to bar the long-stalled project due to the existing ban. Her approval bears the hallmarks of corruption by accommodating a project to the point of breaking existing regulations,” claimed lawyer Aaron Pedrosa, PMCJ chief legal counsel.

“Even the DOE’s October 14, 2025 advisory, which expanded the exemptions to the coal moratorium, cannot be retroactively applied to justify the Atimonan coal plant project, although this seems to be Garin’s intention,” Pedrosa added.

GMA News Online has reached out to Garin for comment and will publish her reply as soon as it is available.

In addition, Pedrosa said the Atimonan coal-fired power plant project allegedly violated the Department of Health (DOH) – Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 2021-0001 or the Guidelines for the Operationalization of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Review Process for Development Projects.

This is because the project proponent has yet to send an application for Health Impact Clearance Certificate, the lawyer said.

Fr. Warren Puno, lead convenor of QUEEN, said there is “overwhelming opposition against the construction of the Atimonan coal plant.”

“It is not just the church but the people of Atimonan and Quezon Province. Besides, the economic and financial arguments are clearly against it. No one is interested in investing in the construction of coal plants anymore as their era has passed,” he added.

Fr. Puno said Garin allegedly created a mess and that she “has to face the consequences.”

“Quezon Province is a coal corridor with five operating coal plants with a total capacity of 2,250 MW. It is burning the people’s health, livelihood, and future. We have been fighting against these environmentally degrading projects for decades now,” Ma. Luisa Opalda, one of the complainants and a resident of Atimonan, said.

“Communities here deserve to breathe clean air. We will not stop fighting until they are held accountable. They need to rectify their decisions now and heed our call,” she added. — JMA, GMA Integrated News