"As gas giants move in, Philippine fishers fight for their seas and survival" 29 July 2025

...Wilma Abanil and her husband, Joseph Vargas, have called Santa Clara, a fishing village on the shore of Batangas Bay, home for decades...

...They live in a shipping channel touted by the government as a superhighway for liquefied natural gas. Local officials have repeatedly asked them to leave, to allow for the LNG companies whose plants surround them to expand their operations. “They told me, ‘Do not be an obstacle to the development of this town,’” Abanil says. “We want a simple life, but they say we are an obstacle.”

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About 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, fisherman Jaime Ulysses Gilera has seen his daily catch dwindle. Off the coast of Mabini, a peninsula world-famous for its muck diving, he says the health of corals has deteriorated since a nearby LNG plant was built a decade ago. He blames sedimentation from the plant for compounding ongoing coral bleaching linked to climate change. “Our corals became white,” Gilera says.

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Unable to fish, Abanil and Gilera have instead dedicated themselves to a campaign opposing the Ilijan terminal, along with several other LNG projects they say will destroy what’s left of the marine ecosystem. The protesters, led by a coalition largely organized by the Manila-based Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), have directly petitioned the companies and financers behind the area’s LNG projects.

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...The Verde Island Passage connects the South China Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, making it an ideal transshipment point.

But the passage is also a marine sanctuary dubbed the “Amazon of the Oceans,” filled with hundreds of coral reefs and fish species, and is said to have the world’s highest concentration of shorefish biodiversity.

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In 2023, the passage was named a “hope spot” by the nonprofit Mission Blue, in recognition of ongoing efforts by local advocates to have it designated a protected area by the Philippines and the International Maritime Organization.

But developers have forged ahead, led by San Miguel Corporation, a Philippine conglomerate mostly known for its beer and shopping malls. Last year, it teamed up with power companies Meralco and Aboitiz to invest $3.3 billion in the Ilijan LNG-to-power terminal.

The project has received financing from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, which has been criticized for funding harmful projects in several countries...

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Abanil had gathered data showing JBIC representatives that her average catch had declined since the LNG terminals were opened in the area. She was no longer able to fish near her home due to the presence of First Gen, the owner of the LNG terminal in Santa Clara producing the noise that drowns out the sound of the waves. Now, she can’t fish in Ilijan either.

In Ilijan, security guards carrying long rifles now keep watch at the terminal’s imposing gates. Most fishers have left, and those who remain hesitate to speak critically about the terminal. They’re prohibited from fishing within 300 meters (about 1,000 feet) of the terminal, Gilera says. Fishers who approached the terminal have reported that guards met them on boats, aiming their guns at them, he says.

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When contacted by Mongabay, JBIC pointed to their 2024 report, and specified that they do not directly provide financing or equity investments for the project. “JBIC’s involvement in the Project is limited to recognizing the Project through its equity investments in the Project’s EPC contractor, which is a minority shareholder of the Project proponent. Nevertheless, JBIC expects the Project proponent to take appropriate measures to address environmental considerations and to engage in constructive dialogue with the local communities,” the bank said in a statement.