₱21M wasted in ‘scrapped’ energy project – Sen. Gatchalian

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 22) — More than ₱20 million down the drain as the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC) called off a port development project in Batangas to replace it with a new one, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Friday.

“It’s a shock to me,” Gatchalian said as he led a Senate finance subcommittee’s hearing on the proposed ₱1.96-billion corporate budget of the PNOC.

Gatchalian, who also sits as vice chairman of the energy panel, said PNOC already spent ₱21 million to conduct a feasibility study for the Energy Supply Base Port Development Project in Mabini, Batangas.

It was supposed to upgrade and expand a private commercial port to provide pier and warehousing facilities, cargo handling, and other services for the energy industry.

Gatchalian said it was previously found to be feasible, resulting in a multiyear budget of ₱1.6 billion.

“We are now going to ignore the ₱20-million feasibility study, and on top of that we are now breaching the multiyear allocation of ₱1.6 billion by another ₱500 million to about ₱2.1 billion… It’s quite drastic,” Gatchalian said.

“₱21 million is ₱21 million, we’re just going to throw it away," he added. «Sayang naman [What a waste].»

PNOC President and CEO Oliver Butalid said the new project — the Offshore Wind Power Integration Port — was the result of “very well-attended consultations” with experts and stakeholders.

“The design presented as envisioned in 2019 cannot be responsive to the needs of this sector so it was the decision of the board,” Butalid said, referring to the PNOC Board of Directors chaired by Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.

“It was impossible to foresee that there would be such a fast-growing industry such as offshore wind,”