Claim: “I built them,” President Bongbong said of the Ilocos Norte windmills
Rating: FALSE
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. praised the accomplishments of his dictator father and boasted of his own infrastructure projects at his inaugural address earlier today, June 30, held at the National Museum in Manila.
Amidst his call for ‘unity’ and ‘development,’ he cited that among the biggest issues of the country is the widespread plastic and air pollution. He stated that practical solutions to unsustainable energy sources and pollution have yet to be developed at a larger scale, but that alternative ways such as wind power are starting to emerge. Marcos Jr. claimed credit for building the windmills at Ilocos Norte:
“Blades have been turning over the sand dunes of Ilocos Norte. Harnessing a power all around but unseen long before this day. I built them.”
This is false.
The Facts: There are currently three wind power plants at Ilocos Norte: (1) the Bangui Wind Power, (2) Burgos Wind, and (3) Caparispisan Wind.
The 33MW Bangui Wind Farm is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, which became fully operational in 2004. This was spearheaded by the NorthWind Power Development Corporation and funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
The 150MW Burgos Wind Farm is the biggest in the country, owned and operated by the EDC Burgos Wind Power Corporation (EBWPC).
The EDC secured funds from a group of foreign and local banks in October 2014 for the development of this project.
Lastly, the 81MW Caparispisan Wind Farm was initiated by North Luzon Renewable Energy Corporation (NLREC), a joint venture of Ayala’s AC Energy Holdings Incorporated, the Philippines Alliance for Infrastructure (PNAI), Mitsubishi Corporation’s Diamond Generating Asia Ltd.and the UPC Philippines Wind Holdco.
It was fully commissioned in November 2014
None of these projects were developed or even funded by Marcos Jr.
He was merely governor of Ilocos Norte during the time the Bangui Wind Farm was being constructed in 2005.
Why we fact-checked this: This issue has already been fact-checked many times. This inaugural speech was broadcast and delivered to millions of Filipinos across media and television. Even before the presidential elections, the Marcos family have appropriated projects and infrastructure enterprises in the attempt to rebrand their name and image in their decades-long disinformation propaganda campaign.
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