Residents and fisherfolk of Talim Island in Rizal oppose the Talim Wind Power Project being built on the island. They say the project must immediately be stopped because it causes severe flooding and landslides resulting from the destruction of the environment and mountains.

Talim Island is an island in the middle of Laguna de Bay. It has 24 barangays divided between the towns of Binangonan and Cardona in Rizal.

Behind the windmill project is “renewable energy” corporation Island Wind Energy Corporation (IWEC), a subsidiary of the Singapore-based company Vena Energy.

Vena Energy is considered a leading independent “renewable energy” corporation in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Driving the project is the alleged need to address the country’s energy supply shortage.

Residents said putting up the project on the island’s mountains began in 2025. Tree-cutting started as its preparation two years prior to that.

Mountain denudation have recently flooded communities on the island with muddy water reaching 3-6 meters high. The most affected barangays are Kinagatan, Binagoogan, Janosan, Pinagdilawan, Ginoong Sanay, and Binitagan.

Led by Kasama sa Pangangalaga ng Isla Talim or Kapit sa Talim (Partner in Caring for Talim Island), island residents released an opposition manifesto. The group said the project must be opposed because it will denude the mountains, alter the aquatic ecosystem, cause massive flash flooding, landslides, soil erosion, the loss of the island’s natural scenery and identity, a drop in fish catch, shrinking farms, foreign control over the local.

“Touted as a step toward ‘clean energy,’ the project comes with a detrimental collateral price to our beloved homeland,” the group said. Kapit sa Talim also feared that behind the promise of development is utter destruction for their community.

Residents and fisherfolk also fear that continuing the windmill’s construction will affect even their right to housing, especially those living at the foot of the mountain.

Residents also recently questioned whether the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) granted the project an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), especially since residents were not consulted about the project. “There was no consultation with affected residents. We were simply blindsided,” Talim Island resident and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya, or National Strength of the Fisherfolk Movement in the Philippines) second vice chair Ronnel Arambulo said.

According to Pamalakaya, the windmill project being peddled on Talim Island is part of the pro-corporate and business-oriented “renewable energy” drive that the Marcos regime is now flaunting nationwide. The group opposes these projects because they bring widespread displacement and plunder of the livelihoods of the poor.

The Save Laguna Lake Movement (SLLM) also expressed support for the residents because of the project’s impact on the lake.