The DOE leadership, nuclear forum, electric cooperatives and PEPIF 2026

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I will have five energy topics here so we go straight to them.

Rumored change in DOE leadership

Last week, there were rumors that an ex-congressman from Luzon is gunning to be the next Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary once the appointment ban for losing candidates in the May 2025 elections is lifted this coming May 2026. This ex-congressman is known for being anti-Meralco franchise renewal, anti-NGCP especially its partnership with SGCC.

DOE Secretary Sharon Garin is also a former congresswoman and prior to her appointment and confirmation as secretary, she was DOE undersecretary for three years until May 2025 under Raphael Perpetuo “Popo” Lotilla, who was transferred to become DENR Secretary. So there is continuity in energy policies from Mr. Lotilla to Ms. Garin.

Another change in DOE leadership is not good for at least two reasons: uncertainty in overall energy policy direction for the next two years, and possible harassment of distribution utilities (DUs) and the transmission and system operator of the country. The President should keep Secretary Garin and give that ex-congressman another post somewhere, perhaps as undersecretary in other departments.

Nuclear energy forum with energy NGOs

Last Jan. 22, Alpas Pinas along with Kuryente.org and Partners for Affordable and Reliable Energy (PARE) held a forum on nuclear energy at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) in Quezon City. Alpas is a nuclear energy advocacy group while Kuryente and PARE are consumer groups in the power sector.

The three speakers were PNRI director Carlos “Caloy” Arcilla, Pangasinan 2nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco and APEC party-list Rep. Sergio Dagooc. The audience included many NGO leaders like people from ILAW Pilipinas, Green Party, other environmentalist groups pushing for more RE and neutral to anti-nuclear energy.

Arcilla spoke about the various applications of nuclear energy not just in power generation but also in medicine and health care, agriculture, industrial applications. Rep. Cojuangco is in his usual self – passionate, articulate speaker on nuclear power generation, large nuclear reactors like the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), and not small or micro modular reactors. Rep. Dagooc is also pro-nuclear but he also spoke about the various components of our monthly electricity bill and the role of electric cooperatives.

I briefly spoke during the open forum and mentioned that BNPP is a beautiful project and it has four “sister” big nuclear plants in Brazil, Slovenia, Spain and South Korea. The five big nuclear plants including BNPP are “sisters” because: All were built by Westinghouse in the 1970s, all experienced cost escalation as construction went on, all started operations in the mid-80s (1983-1987) until today, and all are safe and have zero nuclear accident – except the BNPP.

Electric cooperatives seeking financial bailout

I saw the privilege speech of Rep. Dagooc in Congress this week seeking a “universal debt restructuring program” for many ailing electric cooperatives (ECs) to “restore their financial health.” He wants the interest payment, penalties and surcharges of these ailing ECs to be shouldered by other government agencies like Napocor, PSALM and NEA.

His statements and proposals are additional proof that most, if not all, ECs are inefficient and wasteful, created by politics, monitored and protected by politics via NEA, and kept afloat by tax money via NEA loans to them taken from taxpayers money.

He also lambasted the “profit-oriented” system via private DUs. But the congressman regularly flies from Mindanao to Manila via commercial and profit-oriented airlines, stays or attends meetings in profit-oriented hotels. Maybe he implies  that there should also be a non-profit Manananggal Airtravel Cooperative, a non-profit Carinderia Cooperative, and so on.

No, ECs should pay their interest charges, penalties. If they cannot be efficient, they should become corporates, monitored by SEC and not NEA. The private DUs like Meralco, VECO, Davao Light, they are doing real public service – zero blackout to customers except on rare cases, sell at competitive prices, give profit to shareholders, give taxes to government, give free services to certain communities.

WESM operations January 2026

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) reported the market operations for January to be reflected in the February 2026 billing. Brix Lelis will surely report on lower prices for February so I will just comment on the energy mix: coal share to total power generation remains high, 53.6 percent last November, 56.3 percent last December 2025 and 58.7 percent last January. Coal share in December 2024 was 61.3 percent.

The share of solar plus wind remains small, 6.5 percent of total generation last December 2025 to 7.2 percent last January. Their share in December 2024 was near-insignificant 4.8 percent, despite continuing anti-coal, anti-fossil fuel and heavy RE-pushing and campaigns by the climate establishment.

PEPIF 2026

The Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum (PEPIF) 2026 organized by IEMOP will be held this coming March 12, Thursday, at John Hay Convention Center, Baguio City. The theme of the 4th PEPIF is “Navigating the Energy Trilemma in Philippines Context: Security, Sustainability, and Equity.”

The speakers in the morning plenary are Benguet Gov. Melchor Daguines Diclas, DOE Secretary Garin, ADB country lead for energy Shigeru Yamamura, DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara. From the private sector, speakers are SN Aboitiz Power Group president and CEO Joseph Yu and Exist Software Labs vice president Christopher Silerio.

Energy Regulatory Commission chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan will speak after lunch. There will be a big panel discussion in the afternoon to discuss and dig deeper on the mentioned theme with six prominent speakers from the DOE, ERC, PIPPA, Ateneo and NGCP. And I will be the moderator of that panel, I will write more about this panel in the coming weeks.