A Catholic diocese has again vowed to oppose efforts to revive the nuclear plant on Bataan peninsula near Manila.
Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga renewed his diocese’s opposition after president-elect and the late dictator’s son Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he may open the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, his father’s project.
“Our pastoral statement of ‘No to BNPP’ rehabilitation stands,” Santos told Catholic-run Radio Veritas on Thursday.
Marcos said reviving the dormant BNPP in Morong town would help solve the country’s energy crisis and growing power demand.
The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) earlier said that South Korea has offered to rehabilitate the BNPP at a cost of $1 billion.
But the bishop said the hefty amount is better used for developing clean renewable, affordable and safe energy solutions.
“They should focus on renewable energy, like windmills in Ilocos Norte. So, why not promote that?” Santos added.
Completed in 1984, the plant was mothballed two years later following the ouster of Marcos Sr. and due to corruption allegations and safety concerns.
