Quezon priest urges DOE review of Atimonan coal plant project

LUCENA CITY — A Catholic priest and environmental advocate has urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a fresh, thorough review of the proposed 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon, along the coast of Lamon Bay.

Fr. Warren Puno, convenor of Quezon for Environment (QUEEN) and director of the Ministry of Ecology at the Diocese of Lucena, made the call after the DOE announced plans to terminate its 2026 coal mine auction set for this year, including the highly coveted Semirara Island, as it reviews its rules for awarding coal contracts and seeks to improve government revenues.

“If the DOE can do this in Semirara, it is reasonable to ask: Isn’t it time for the DOE to conduct another thorough review of the Atimonan One Energy (A1E) coal-fired power plant?” Puno said in a September 17 social media post. 

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“What needs to be reviewed is the DOE’s recognition of the project as a committed project and its confirmation that the project is not covered by the coal moratorium,” said Puno, parish priest of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Parish in Barangay Poon, Atimonan.

 A1E, the developer of the Atimonan project, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

The proposed project has been in development for years, but no power plant has been built to date.

In a May 2026 statement, the DOE said the country’s coal moratorium, imposed in December 2020, remains in effect. The department also said it was reviewing previously identified indicative coal projects to determine which developments may no longer be feasible.

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DOE records have continued to list Atimonan One Energy as a committed project.

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Puno said that when the DOE reaffirmed its recognition of the A1E project in 2025, it was reported that changes to the project’s development timeline would be subject to DOE review and that its non-coverage status could be terminated if a significant delay were established.

“Our call, therefore, is clear: The DOE should apply to Atimonan the same principle of reassessment it is now applying to other coal projects,” Puno said.

He urged the department to determine whether the factual, legal, technical, and environmental bases for granting A1E non-coverage from the coal moratorium and committed-project status remain valid.

Puno argued that if conditions prevailing when the project was initially approved have substantially changed, the DOE should determine whether maintaining its exemption remains consistent with current energy policy.

The priest said energy security should not be measured solely by additional generating capacity.

“It also involves determining whether a project remains necessary, viable, environmentally responsible, and consistent with the country’s direction toward a cleaner energy system,” he said.

READ: DOE ‘open’ to lifting ban on new coal plants

Puno added that communities in Quezon, which he described as the country’s “coal capital,” have consistently opposed the Atimonan project.

Quezon province hosts coal-fired power facilities in Mauban and Pagbilao, in addition to the proposed Atimonan plant.

Citing a 2020 study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Puno also raised concerns about the health impacts associated with coal-fired power generation. 

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The CREA study estimated that air pollution from the country’s existing coal-fired power capacity was associated with 630 air pollution-related deaths in 2019./coa