BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A broad coalition of environmental, church, youth, labor and civil society groups are opposing Bacolod City’s planned waste-to-energy (WTE) project, warning that the proposal could lock the city into a costly and harmful system without enough public consultation, transparency and scientific evidence.
The Zero Waste Alliance Negros Occidental, an alliance of 13 organizations, issued a manifesto after Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya and Sheryl Chua of the Forza Development Corporation signed a lease contract Monday, May 4, for land intended for the WTE project.
Gasataya said Forza will rent 10 hectares for P1.01 million annually under a 25-year contract. He said the agreement covers only the land lease, not the operation of the facility, and that the city will not spend for the plant’s construction. The mayor said the project is still awaiting Department of Energy approval.
The opposition followed an earlier formal protest last March 2nd filed by the Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment Inc. at the Bacolod City Government Center. NICE said the city included WTE in its 10-year solid waste management plan without prior public consultation, despite the group’s request for a public hearing as early as Jan. 15, 2026.
NICE said project documents it requested in February remain undisclosed. The group called on Gasataya, Vice Mayor Kalaw Puentevella, concerned councilors and the Department of Energy to explain the need for the WTE project, hold open public consultations and release feasibility, environmental and health studies.
An earlier unity statement in March 2026 signed by 32 environmental and civil society groups from Negros Island and around the country also criticized the city’s handling of the proposal, saying discussions “should not happen in closed doors” and decisions should not be made without transparency, participation and sound scientific evidence.
The signatories said the city government had not responded to a requested public hearing on its solid waste management plan and had not released documents requested Feb. 10 related to the WTE study. They also criticized the City Council’s approval of an ordinance recognizing the Bacolod Integrated Recycling and Technology Hub, or BIRTH, and integrating WTE as an anchor component of the city’s 10-year solid waste management plan.
The groups said thermal WTE technologies, including pyrolysis, gasification and combustion, remain forms of incineration even when promoted as modern or renewable. They warned that WTE facilities could release pollutants such as dioxins and pose risks to nearby communities, waste workers and public health.
They also said long-term WTE contracts could encourage continued waste production while weakening composting, recycling, reuse and waste reduction programs.
The alliance urged Bacolod officials to fully implement Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, pilot zero waste systems in at least 10 barangays, support decentralized materials recovery, regulate plastics and include waste workers in formal waste systems.
“The solution is not to burn our waste, but to prevent it at its source,” the alliance said.
Paghimutad 