DOE defers coal auction indefinitely

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

April 25, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) has pushed back its coal auction, in which the Consunji Group’s flagship asset in Semirara, Antique is among those at stake, to address key concerns raised by prospective bidders.

Based on a document obtained by The STAR, the DOE informed auction applicants and other interested stakeholders that the April 28 deadline for the submission and opening of bid documents has been postponed “until further notice.”

Energy Undersecretary Alessandro Sales said the move aims to ensure that all issues raised during the pre-submission conferences are “fully considered and addressed” before announcing the revised deadline.

“This will likewise afford all participants sufficient time to prepare their respective bid documents,” said Sales, who chairs the auction’s Review and Evaluation Committee.

Under the bid round, the DOE will offer 10 coal blocks on Semirara Island in Antique, the country’s largest coal mining site long operated by Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC).

The auction also covers three blocks in Amulung and Iguig, Cagayan, and five blocks in Benito Soliven, Naguilian and Cauayan, Isabela.

The DOE held a pre-bid conference last month, where SMPC made its appearance as widely expected.

More notably, tycoon Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Global Power (SMGP) and its subsidiary Sual Power Inc. also took part in the event.

The STAR sources had already anticipated the San Miguel Group’s participation in the coal bidding process, given the company’s heavy investments in coal power generation.

SMGP, the country’s second-largest power generation company by market share, owns and operates a substantial portfolio of coal-fired facilities. These include the 600-megawatt Mariveles plant in Bataan and more than 1,000 MW of capacity in Zambales.

To further clarify the requirements for the auction, the DOE staged another pre-bid conference this month, where both SMPC and SMGP were again in attendance. Also present were SMGP subsidiaries Malita Power Inc. and Limay Power Inc.

In February, the DOE launched the coal auction, where Meralco PowerGen Corp. of tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan and Zamora-led Nickel Asia Corp. were spotted, as first reported by The STAR.

Although there are other coal blocks up for grabs, the spotlight remains on the Semirara contract, which grants the exclusive right to explore, develop and conduct coal-mining operations in Antique.

SMPC, whose current contract is set to expire in July 2027, had earlier sought an extension to continue its decades-long operations.

The DOE, however, rejected the request following a negative opinion from the Department of Justice and decided to put the contract up for bidding instead.

The auction would not follow the usual pattern of bidders simply offering the highest price to win the contract. Instead, the winner will be chosen based on technical qualifications.

This gives SMPC a real fighting chance, thanks to its decades of experience handling what Energy Secretary Sharon Garin describes as a “complicated engineering project.”