this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2024
83 points (98.8% liked)

World News

38563 readers
2318 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

An influential politician in the Philippines, who has been a cheerleader for natural gas power, is behind a company that planned to make a fortune from it, an Associated Press investigation of thousands of pages of documents has found.

Gov. Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas province and his late wife stood to profit from a buildout of liquified natural gas power — he owned the largest share in a real estate firm that soared in value as energy companies moved in, while he promoted the expansion in media interviews and public events. The firm also launched its own natural gas project.

Experts in government ethics deplored the scenario, with one environmental law advocate calling for an investigation into Mandanas. In an interview with the AP, Mandanas denied his associated businesses are involved with the buildout and called natural gas the best choice for the country.

top 3 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Politicians working for their own profit instead for the well-being of the people who elected them? Color me shocked!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

The world would look a lot better today if this wasn't so prevalent.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas province and his late wife stood to profit from a buildout of liquified natural gas power — he owned the largest share in a real estate firm that soared in value as energy companies moved in, while he promoted the expansion in media interviews and public events.

Michael Henry Yusingco, a lawyer and fellow at the Philippine Institute for Autonomy and Governance, called the situation a clear conflict of interest that could merit Mandanas’s suspension or removal from office.

Addressing shareholders, she said the infrastructure buildout in Batangas “implemented and led by its current governor” would boost AbaCore, increasing property values, cash flow and revenue.

San Miguel Corporation, one of the Philippines’ biggest power providers, affirmed in an email to the AP that its LNG projects there “led to a substantial increase in local property values.” They rose more than 13-fold, it said.

The AbaCore affiliate and three Chinese firms agreed to build a $3 billion LNG complex, including a power plant, in the fishing village of Simlong in Batangas.

Barnaby Pace, at the nonprofit Center for International Environmental Law, said evidence of Mandanas’s business interests in the LNG buildout was “deeply concerning” and demanded authorities investigate.


The original article contains 1,302 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 85%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!