Environmental and climate justice groups criticized President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28, calling it a “missed opportunity” that failed to confront the country’s worsening climate and energy crises.

Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect Verde Island Passage (Protect VIP), said, “It’s disappointing to hear President Marcos peddling natural gas as a clean energy source.” 

The priest said fisherfolk, especially in areas of gas expansion in the country, “suffer from the destructive impacts of massive natural gas development on their livelihoods and the marine ecosystem.”

Gariguez added that the plight of small fishers “was treated as a mere footnote,” reduced to “a passing mention of fiberglass boat turnovers” while urgent issues such as the Supreme Court ruling on municipal waters, “which fishing families bewail,” were ignored. 

He also criticized the absence of “any meaningful reflection on the first major environmental crisis of his administration, the 2023 oil spill in Mindoro.”

John Leo Algo, deputy executive director of Living Laudato Si Philippines, said the speech reflected “business-as-usual.”

“It seems he is more intent about maintaining his public image and subtly throwing jabs at his political opponents than directly addressing the grim picture that seems so obvious to everyone else,” Algo said. 

Algo noted that the President appeared to engage in political greenwashing, pointing out that he omitted references to his administration’s earlier promotion of nuclear and gas projects, focusing only on renewable energy. 

Gerry Arances, convenor of the Power for People Coalition (P4P), noted that Marcos “hit the mark” in admitting high electricity costs and unreliable service but warned that “acknowledgement is pointless if the root cause of power woes – reliance on costly and unsustainable energy from fossil fuels – stays the status quo.”

Arances stressed that including coal and gas in the 200 power plants targeted by President Marcos for the remainder of his term would not solve the country’s energy problems. 

He urged the government to remove barriers to the rapid development of renewable energy and ensure that such initiatives deliver direct benefits to consumers and communities.

The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) said Marcos “placed his bets on the same failed strategy: inviting big businesses to lead the development.” It warned that this “model, reliant on private investment and dirty projects… has kept millions in the dark and driven up electricity prices.”

Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), criticized Marcos’ silence on mining. “We totally reject PBBM and his SONA because there is hardly any mention of planned programs and policies concerning the environment, and destructive mining,” he said.

Krishna Ariola, energy and climate program head of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), said, “President Marcos framing worsening disasters as ‘new normal’ sounds like an admission of the administration’s lack of will to properly address the impacts brought about by the climate crisis.”

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) also called for “greater urgency” in climate action. Executive Director Angelo Kairos dela Cruz said, “These pronouncements signal that we are on the right track.”

“However, we underscore the need for more urgency in integrating climate action and more tangible solutions in the country’s long-term development strategies,” he added.

Dela Cruz emphasized that scientific evidence shows climate impacts will continue to worsen, stressing the need to protect communities and equip them with tools and strategies to adapt.