PMCJ to World Bank-IFC/RCBC: Delaying justice for 7 years won’t wash away your accountability

Quezon City, Philippines — The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) conducted a lightning rally in front of the World Bank (WB) Office in Taguig on April 21, 2025, coinciding with the first day of the 2025 Spring Meetings of the WB Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The PMCJ reiterated its call for the multilateral development bank to deliver remedies to the Philippine communities affected by the coal projects financed by its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In 2017, PMCJ, along with Recourse and Inclusive Development International (IDI), filed a complaint before the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) against the IFC for financing 19 coal-fired power plants in the Philippines through a financial intermediary, the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC). In 2021, the CAO found the IFC in violation of its own standards.

A year later, the IFC approved a Management Action Plan (MAP) which included assessing and addressing the harms caused by its investments. Yet to date, no remedies have been delivered to the affected communities. At the lightning rally, representatives of affected communities in Bataan, joined by the PMCJ, and other groups, raised their banners and amplified their calls and testimonies of the dirty and deadly impacts of coal on their everyday lives. PMCJ also delivered a letter to the WB Office listing their demands to the Bank regarding the issue.

“The WB-IFC must believe that dragging this out for seven years will strain us – that we will grow tired and abandon our fight for justice. But every day they delay their responsibilities and distance themselves from accountability to the communities they have harmed and continue to endanger only strengthens our resolve to continue.

What these business-as-usual corporate-minded people don’t understand is this: as long as the mothers continue to wail about their children’s illnesses, and the fisherfolk ramp up the fight in light of their negatively swamped livelihood, we will not stop. Our determination is not defined by their inaction, but by our communities holding the line to continue the struggle for climate, social, and environmental justice,” PMCJ National Coordinator Ian Rivera said.

In January 2025, PMCJ, along with Recourse and IDI, slammed the release of the CAO report, alleging a cover-up as investigation reports were not released, among other pertinent information of the case.

This year as in previous years, PMCJ and affected communities have again sent representatives to the Bank’s Annual Spring Meetings to further campaign and demand reparations. “Seven years into the process, IFC continues to deny accountability through its self-serving interpretation of the findings of both the CAO and its own consultants. That contrary to mitigating the harms, IFC conveniently defined its responsibility to completing studies of the impacts. We are past studies and written literature of the harms. The affected communities demand action. There are more than 180 recommendations for IFC to address the adverse impacts suffered by host and neighboring communities. IFC must chart a path to implement them instead of obscuring its culpability,” lamented PMCJ Legal Counsel Aaron Pedrosa.

Pedrosa referred to the January 2025 CAO Monitoring Report which took note of the recommendations made by IFC’s consultant but which to date remain on paper.

“We are witnessing the continuing deterioration of the health, environment, and livelihoods of the affected communities. With IFC’s foot dragging and the scale of the impacts, the solution and remediation of the harms require a One World Bank Group approach. To deliver remedies would require the cooperation of the Philippine Government led by the World Bank in engaging the coal plants. The WB does not lack the resources to do this, only the will to do so,” Pedrosa added.

Pedrosa represents the affected communities in the complaint against RCBC. “We are against the (coal-fired power) plant because many of us are getting sick. Those are real and not just stories. My husband can’t work because of his heart enlargement. My child is also suffering from pneumonia. […] Now that they are planning to hoist another dirty plant here, we are going against it as well. They should invest in renewable energy. So that the people will not catch diseases. They will construct these plants without [a] health impact assessment. […] They should think of the people’s livelihood. You have no rice (to eat), and you are also getting sick (because of the plant). Lastly, they should be hospitable and respectful to us when we go to their offices. We are not animals. We’re humans too,” said Lany Caraat of Dumlong, Toledo City.

In September 2024, Toledo residents voiced their opposition to Aboitiz Power’s subsidiary Therma Visayas, Inc.’s coal plant expansion via a petition, urging the company to comply with the law by conducting health impact assessments as their community’s health is on the line. Four years ago, CAO released its findings that IFC violated its performance standards. In February 2022, IFC approved a Management Action Plan (MAP) to address and implement the recommended actions to be taken by them and RCBC. A year later, a series of Management Progress Reports were released, highlighting the progress and challenges in executing CAO’s recommendations.

This was followed by CAO staff visits to the communities where the complainants reside. “From IFC’s perspective, it has no obligation to address and mitigate the harms caused by its sub-projects. Conveniently, IFC limited itself to conducting a multi-million-dollar assessment when the MAP expressly requires it to address the impacts of its investments. Communities, meanwhile, have been systematically sidelined – denied access to these reports despite having actively contributed to the process,” said PMCJ Senior Executive Officer Ellenor Bartolome. Bartolome shared that among the demands this year is to release an updated MAP to include the worsening conditions of the communities due to the continued operations of the coal plants.

“Given the Board’s recent approval of a Remedy Framework that does not apply retroactively, our challenge for the World Bank is clear: ensure accountability and remedy in legacy cases such as the RCBC Case, where there is clear evidence of grave negligence by the IFC in meeting its performance standards. We strongly reject this such self-serving interpretation of the MAP as it undermines efforts to alleviate the suffering of affected communities,” Bartolome emphasized.

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