PHILIPPINES Trends and Developments Contributed by: Valeriano Del Rosario and Maria Francesca Bautista, VeraLaw
fired power plants are typically regarded as the cheapest among the scheduled based load generation facilities that can operate continu - ously and provide consistent power to meet the base demand of the grid” (Brix Lelis, “Philippines soaring power demand triggers rise in coal use”, The Philippine Star Global ,5 Jan 2025). The Indonesian archipelago lies due south of the Philippines in the Southern Hemisphere, and numerous tugs and barges ferry their coal cargo from the Indonesian mining ports, passing through the Sulu Sea to reach their destination in the Philippines. The shortest route will take the tug and barge array through the Sulu Sea, and there are ecologically sensitive areas along their route such as the Tubathaha Reef National Park. When tugs and barges need to seek shelter, they will head for smaller islands that have shallow waters with extensive fields of sea grass that feed marine mammals like sea cows. One such island is Cagayancillo in the Sulu Sea, which was the site of a casualty that was known to us. The traditional typhoon warnings that existed during the 20th century, such as estimating the severity
of typhoons based on a number system and the location of the typhoon within a grid known as the Philippine Area of Responsibility, no longer pro - vide a good guide. The typhoons have become stronger, and their outer band’s circumference has become much wider. A recent example was the oil spill from the motor tanker “Terranova” mentioned above. Typhoon Gaemi was already well north of the Philippines and outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility when she was cleared by the Coast Guard to sail, but she expe - rienced very heavy weather from the outer band of the typhoon, which caused her to flounder. Ships through the ages have been vulnerable to the weather. The ships in the coal trade between Indonesia and the Philippines may present an ecological threat to the sensitive ecology of the Sulu Sea. Indonesia lies south of the equator and is outside the typhoon belt that extends from the Philippines then north through Taiwan up to Japan. With the increasing severity and size of typhoons, the Philippines environment will face an increasing threat from that ferocious force of nature in decades to come.
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