Quezon City, Philippines–The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), along with other cause-oriented organizations, conducted a lightning rally in front of the World Bank (WB) Office in Taguig on April 21, 2025, coinciding with the first day of the 2025 Spring Meetings of the WB Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The PMCJ reiterated its call for the multilateral development bank to deliver remedies to the Philippine communities affected by the coal projects financed by its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
At the lightning rally, representatives of affected communities in Bataan, joined by the PMCJ, and other groups, raised their banners and amplified their calls and testimonies of the dirty and deadly impacts of coal on their everyday lives.
PMCJ also delivered a letter to the WB Office listing their demands to the Bank regarding the issue.
“What these business-as-usual corporate-minded people don’t understand is this: as long as the mothers continue to wail about their children’s illnesses, and the fisherfolk ramp up the fight in light of their negatively swamped livelihood, we will not stop. Our determination is not defined by their inaction, but by our communities holding the line to continue the struggle for climate, social, and environmental justice,” PMCJ National Coordinator Ian Rivera said.
“We are past studies and written literature of the harms. The affected communities demand action. There are more than 180 recommendations for IFC to address the adverse impacts suffered by host and neighboring communities. IFC must chart a path to implement them instead of obscuring its culpability,” lamented PMCJ Legal Counsel Aaron Pedrosa.
In a statement, Pedrosa referred to the January 2025 CAO Monitoring Report which took note of the recommendations made by IFC’s consultant but which to date remain on paper.
“We are witnessing the continuing deterioration of the health, environment, and livelihoods of the affected communities. With IFC’s foot dragging and the scale of the impacts, the solution and remediation of the harms require a One World Bank Group approach. To deliver remedies would require the cooperation of the Philippine Government led by the World Bank in engaging the coal plants. The WB does not lack the resources to do this, only the will to do so,” Pedrosa added. (PR)
Photo by Lei Ventenilla
