Farmers, youth and students, scientists, environmental defenders, and Church representatives gathered at the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) campus in Nueva Ecija on June 29 to establish a group that will oppose destructive solar farms in Central Luzon. Led by Advocates for Science and Technology for the People (Agham)-CL and CLSU University Supreme Student Council (USSC), they formed the Movement Against Destructive Solar Farms (MADSOLAR).

MADSOLAR aims to oppose widespread land-use conversion and destructive solar farm projects in Central Luzon. Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Bayanihang Magsasaka ng Sangilo Association Inc. (BMSAI), Sitio Sangilo United Farmers Association Inc. (SSUFAI), Pro-peoples Engineers and Leaders, Pangasinan and Central Luzon Ecumenical Assembly, and Sto. Niño de Puncan Quasi-Parish joined the gathering.

One of the solar farm projects in the region, the MTerra Solar Project will cover 3,500-7,000 hectares of agricultural land in towns of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. Meralco PowerGen and foreign company General Atlantic are building it.

The groups said the project is destructive because it will drive farmers away from their farmland, damage the environment, and state forces are expected to accompany it with human rights violations. Adversely affected sectors and communities shared their grievances and experiences.

SSUFAI and BMSAI said they experienced repression and their leaders faced fabricated cases in an attempt to silence them. Their crops were also destroyed and their properties damaged.

“They are demons crawling from the ground to destroy our farms and crops,” BMSAI spokesperson Mary Jean Bote said. She added, “The land of the Philippines should belong to Filipinos, not to foreigners, not to just a few people!”

Meanwhile, Roy Manuzon of KAPUNCAN (Kalinga sa Kalikasan ng Barangay Puncan, or Care for the Environment of Barangay Puncan) shared their community’s experience with projects that convert agricultural land use. He said they face aggressive pushing of a wind farm project on Mount 387 in the name of promoting renewable energy, which threatens the environment and the livelihood of indigenous peoples.

Fr. Ernie Pesimo of Sto. Niño de Puncan Quasi Parish delivered a message emphazing that the problems confronting people are not isolated issues but stem from a rotten system that continues to serve the interests of a few. “Why are there many problems? Because the system is rotten,” he said.

MADSOLAR vowed it will strengthen campaigns and struggle against the MTerra Solar Project and other destructive renewable energy projects. It called on people in the region to unite and defend farmers’ land and livelihood, defend biodiversity and the environment, and protect the country’s food security.