In 2019, the provincial government of Negros Occidental took a crucial first step on the path to sustainable energy when it heeded the call of young advocates to keep coal out of the Western Visayas province.
Alfredo Marañon Jr.—governor at the time—issued the executive order opposing the establishment of any coal-fired plants in the face of plans at the time by SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., the power unit of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., to build a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in San Carlos City.
