VARIOUS activists and advocacy groups took to the streets on Monday, April 21, 2025, holding simultaneous protest rallies against the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for allegedly financing coal-fired power plants in the Philippines.
Ian Rivera, national coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), said their demonstrations outside the WB office in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, and in Makati coincided with the 2025 Spring Meetings of the WB and IMF.
“What these business-as-usual, corporate-minded people don’t understand is this: as long as mothers continue to wail about their children’s illnesses, and fisherfolk intensify the fight amid the destruction of their livelihoods, we will not stop,” Rivera said.
“Our determination is not defined by their inaction, but by our communities holding the line in the ongoing struggle for climate, social, and environmental justice,” he added.
The rallies drew participants from the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Kilusan para sa Kabuhayan, Kalusugan, Kalikasan at Katiyakan sa Paninirahan (K4K-QC), Partido Lakas Masa (PLM), Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA), Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO), and residents from affected provinces such as Bataan and Batangas.
The groups criticized the World Bank’s private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), claiming its investments “are exacerbating the climate crisis and harming frontline communities.”
They called for an immediate halt to the financing of 19 coal-fired power plants in the Philippines.
“We are past the stage of studies and written literature detailing the harms. The affected communities demand action. There are more than 180 recommendations for the IFC to address the adverse impacts suffered by host and neighboring communities. The IFC must chart a path to implement these instead of obscuring its culpability,” PMCJ legal counsel Aaron Pedrosa said in a media statement.
“We are against the coal-fired power plant because many of us are getting sick. These are real issues, not just stories. My husband can’t work due to an enlarged heart. My child is also suffering from pneumonia,” added Lany Caraat of Dumlog, Toledo City, who voiced opposition to the coal plant in their area.
To recall, in 2017, PMCJ, together with Recourse and Inclusive Development International (IDI), filed a complaint before the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) against the IFC for allegedly funding coal-fired power plants in the country through a financial intermediary.
“We are witnessing the continued deterioration of the health, environment, and livelihoods of the affected communities. With the IFC dragging its feet and considering the scale of the impacts, resolving and remediating the harms will require a unified World Bank Group approach,” Pedrosa said.
“Delivering remedies will require the cooperation of the Philippine government, led by the World Bank, in engaging the coal plant operators. The WB does not lack the resources to do this—only the will,” he added.
The World Bank and IMF have yet to issue a statement regarding the anti-coal protest actions in the country. (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)