A photo of Fr. Edwin Gariguez, a Filipino Catholic priest who is touring top European banks in a bid to stop fossil fuel financing in his home country. REUTERS/Tom Sims

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Filipino priest pressures banks to stop fossil fuel financing

A Filipino priest is traveling across Europe to talk to top banks, demanding they cut ties with polluting industries in his home country.

By Zeus Legaspi

Father Edwin Gariguez, a renowned environmentalist, is on a mission in Europe in a bid to demand top European banks sever ties with companies behind new fossil fuel projects in a biodiverse region in the Philippines.

Gariguez and his colleagues are urging banking institutions, including Standard Chartered, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and UBS, to refrain from lending, underwriting, and investing in Shell and the conglomerate San Miguel.

The companies are driving new and planned liquefied natural gas terminals in the Verde Island Passage (VIP), which he refers to as the "Amazon of the oceans."

But the results of his campaign appear to have curbed his expectations.

“It’s really frustrating on my part,” the priest told Reuters. “We expect accountability and a more meaningful response, but it’s not coming.”

Major banks Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, and UBS, said in separate statements that they are collaborating with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to tackle emissions and climate change but remained tight-lipped about specific clients.

Meanwhile, Barclays, DWS, Shell, and San Miguel did not respond.

Gariguez, who was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2012, is currently leading a coalition that seeks to protect the VIP and call for accountability on the oil spill that devastated the waters of Oriental Mindoro.

The Verde Island Passage

In February, tanker MT Princess Empress capsized off the coast of Oriental Mindoro, bringing down with it 800,000 liters of industrial oil.

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows the oil spill from the sunken fuel tanker MT Princess Empress on the shores of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines.

The coast of Oriental Mindoro is part of the VIP – a strait that separates the Philippine Islands of Luzon and Mindoro.

Director Gerry Arances of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development Executive said that annually, the strait generates about 12 billion pesos (198 million euro) from fish catch alone.

Gariguez’s Protect VIP coalition said that around 2 million fisherfolks and tourism industry workers depend on the VIP for their livelihood.

The VIP is home to over 1,736 fish species, 338 coral species, and houses about 60% of all known shorefish species in the world.

(Reuters)

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