President Rodrigo Duterte said he will consult the Cabinet members on the possibility of constructing nuclear power plants after the government signed an energy deal with Russia.
Shortly after his arrival from his official visit to Russia, Duterte said the agreement signed between the two countries was just a “broad outline” and may not be constitutional after all.
READ: Duterte slated to visit Russia for bilateral gab
The 1987 Constitution does not ban the use of nuclear energy, but it “adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory.”
An agreement to explore the possible construction of nuclear power plants in the country was among the 10 signed agreements he brought home from Russia. The memorandum of intent comes at a time when gas resources at the Malampaya fields are set to run out by 2024.
President Duterte said he will consult Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on the matter.
“Solar [energy] is very expensive. It is not a guarantee that it can solve our needs, that our needs can be met by this kind of arrangement. If only we can, we would have done that a long time ago,” he said.
The Moscow-based Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation reportedly offered to build floating nuclear power plants in the Philippines. In 2017, the Department of Energy inked a memorandum of understanding with Rosatom.
Director General Alexei Likhachev was quoted as saying the country can also reboot its existing power plant, referring to the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the country’s first and only nuclear power station, which was built during the term of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the height of the 1973 oil crisis.
It never became operational due to alleged corruption and safety issues and amid nuclear fears following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo clarified on Monday that there is nothing definite yet in the possibility of constructing nuclear power plants.
Cusi earlier said the administration is studying the revival of the BNPP to address the energy demand and reserve requirement that is expected to double to 30,189 megawatts by 2030.
Greenpeace Philippines, however, rejected Russia’s floating nuclear power plants.
Khevin Yu, the group’s climate and energy campaigner, said the construction of such facilities could only put the country at high risks since the Philippines is often visited by at least 20 typhoons a year.
“Once a nuclear disaster would occur, many of the Filipino people could get affected because many of us live along the coastlines,” he said.
The threat of a powerful earthquake or tsunami could put the floating nuclear power plants in danger.
“The country must sustain its status of being nuclear-free. Why not adopt solar, wind and hydro power generation? We have an abundance of them here,” he said.
The Palace on Monday said it hoped the President’s visit to Russia would make the United States “a little insecure” and more “fair” to the Philippines.
“It would be for the better because US would now feel a little insecure about it, where before we tailor our position with that of the United States,” Panelo said in a TV interview.
Panelo said this “insecurity” will prompt the United States to give more importance to its relationship with the Philippines and be more open to giving “fair deals.”
The Palace spokesman also reiterated that while the government maintains its alliance with global superpower United States”•the country’s only treaty ally”•the President feels that Manila should establish ties with other Eastern states.
“The focus of the geopolitical movement is on the East rather on the West,” Panelo said.
While in Russia, Duterte lambasted the United States for interfering in the country’s domestic affairs, particularly in his anti-drug campaign.
He also said Western countries “weaponize human rights oblivious to its damaging consequences to the very people they seek to protect,” then pointed to “the chaos and instability” caused by their military interventions in Libya and Iraq.
Duterte also urged the American government to show “fairness, equality and mutual respect.”
READ: Duterte guns for renewed bilateral ties with Russia
READ: Duterte-Putin meeting on agenda