TAGUIG CITY—Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, last Thursday (6 January), appealed to His Excellency Arifin Tasrif, Minister of Energy & Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia, to lift the country’s coal export ban, specifically to the Philippines. 

On 31 December 2021, the Indonesian Directorate-General of Mineral & Coal announced the ban for the entire month of January 2022 to avert a looming power crisis in Indonesia.  

In his letter, Secretary Cusi stressed the healthy economic cooperation between the Philippines and Indonesia and that Indonesia’s recent policy will be “detrimental to economies that (currently) rely on coal-fired power generation systems like the Philippines.”

According to the Energy chief, last year alone, the Philippines sourced 2.3 million metric tons monthly from Indonesia to fuel the country’s coal-fired power plants. “Power generated from coal comprises about 60% of the country’s power demand,” Secretary Cusi stated in his letter.

Secretary Cusi furnished Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. a copy of the letter, and requested the DFA to intercede and appeal on behalf of the Philippines, through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Cooperation mechanism. 

The DOE’s Electric Power Industry Management and Energy Resource Development Bureaus are scheduled to meet with the country’s coal power plant generators tomorrow (11 January) to discuss potential strategies and the way forward. 

###