STATEMENT: Independent presidential candidate Grace Poe, during the March 20 PiliPinas Debates 2016 in Cebu, mentioned several numbers.
On the topic of clean energy, she said:
“Yung ating solar energy ay importante, wind energy malaki ang potential, nasa 70,000 megawatts ang madadagdag, pati na rin ang hydro at least 30,000 megawatts sa Mindanao pa lamang.”
On Yolanda rehabilitation, in response to the statements of her fellow candidates Mar Roxas and Rodrigo Duterte, she said:
“Parang sa NEDA yata yung figures nila. Kailangan pa natin ng about 154,000 housing units na kailangan matapos, 250 classrooms at about 54 or about more than 40,000 hectares na kailangan tamnan ng mga niyog na nawala dahil sa bagyo.”
On what she would do if China attacked Philippine Coast Guard boats, in response to Duterte’s question:
“Unang-una talaga, dapat talaga palakasin natin ang AFP. Ito ang problema, ang ating bansa maliit ang budget para sa defense…Ang Singapore, 4 million people lamang sila pero walang nagbu-bully sa kanila sapagkat malakas ang kanilang maritime at ang kanilang air defense.”
(Source: PiliPinas Debates in Cebu)
FACT: These numbers do not match those from official sources.
It is unclear what Poe meant by solar, wind and hydro energy “potential,” but the numbers she mentions are way off government data on renewable energy targets.
A June 2014 report by the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO) shows that the country aims to achieve by 2030 an installed capacity of all renewable energy resources — hydro, geothermal, biomass, wind, solar and ocean — totaling 15,234.3 megawatts.
Solar energy installation capacity target by 2030 is at 285 megawatts; wind, 2,378 megawatts; and hydro, 8,724.1 megawatts.
(Source: Renewable Energy at a Glance)
Pending renewable energy projects in Mindanao, based on a report by the Mindanao Development Authority as of April 30, 2015, have 2,998.09 megawatts potential capacity by 2020.
The potential capacity of pending hydro projects in Mindanao by 2020 is estimated at 2,147.71 megawatts.
(Source: Mindanao sees an uptrend in renewable energy projects)
Poe’s Yolanda numbers also do not tally with NEDA data, which as of Nov. 15, 2015 show the following:
(Source: NEDA Yolanda Rehabilitation and Recovery Programs)
Poe’s figure on Singapore was the closest she got right, but only if she meant just Singapore residents. Singapore has 3.9 million residents, of whom 3.375 million are Singapore citizens and the rest permanent residents. Its total population, however, is 5.5 million, based on the Singapore Department of Statistics.
(Source: Latest Data from Singapore’s Department of Statistics)
–Shernielyn Dela Cruz, Mark Kevin Reginio and Potre Leila Menchani Tilendo
(The contributors are University of the Philippines journalism majors who are fact-checking candidates for their Journalism Ethics [J110] course taught by VERA Files trustee Yvonne T. Chua.)
