Team DailyPedia
A network of digital advocates has blamed Solar Philippines, the company founded by Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste, for the Philippines’ failure to emerge as a regional hub for data centers and digital infrastructure.
According to Digital Pinoys national campaigner Ronald Gustilo, power projects awarded to Solar Philippines failed to deliver nearly 12 gigawatts of their committed renewable energy capacity to the Department of Energy (DOE).
Gustilo said the alleged non-delivery has resulted in significant lost economic opportunities for the country, including investments and jobs tied to data centers, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence infrastructure. He added that Solar Philippines is now facing billions of pesos in penalties due to terminated power contracts.
“This was not just an energy project failure. This was a lost national opportunity. The Philippines failed to build data centers, AI infrastructure, and a strong digital economy because electricity that was promised was never delivered,” Gustilo said.
He stressed that the undelivered power capacity could have supported more than a hundred hyperscale data centers and attracted over USD 100 billion in potential foreign investments.
Because of the shortfall, Gustilo said major global technology firms chose to expand their operations in neighboring countries where power commitments were met.
“Data center investors don’t listen to projections or press releases. They look at delivered power. When projects of this scale fail, investors don’t wait. They leave—and they may never come back,” he added.
The alleged non-performance also weakened the country’s bid to host cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.
“Non-performance at this scale costs the country industries, jobs, and digital sovereignty. We lost a golden opportunity to compete at the ASEAN level—not because of a lack of vision, but because a company failed to deliver the contracts it won,” Gustilo said.
Earlier, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla confirmed that the government is investigating Leviste over the alleged sale of the mega-franchise granted to Solar Philippines without the required approval from Congress.
“Marami siyang ibang problema. Iyong prangkisa niya, iniimbestigahan na ngayon, iyong violation of franchise. Kasi dapat iyan iyong franchise ay hindi mo ninenegosyo. Batang-bata ka, ninenegosyo mo iyong franchise,” Remulla said.
In 2023, Leviste made headlines after selling 14.6 billion shares of Solar Philippines to Meralco PowerGen Corporation for about ₱18.26 billion.
As of this writing, Solar Philippines has yet to issue a response to the accusations raised by the digital advocates.
