In choosing property, one primary consideration is safety. Establish a safe community and the value of land rises. Create a dangerous environment and no one buys. How would people feel if their next door neighbor turned out to be a fireworks factory? Would they be able to sleep soundly at night?
On a larger scale, how would they feel if it was a nuclear plant where a meltdown can affect towns and cities for miles around, including Metro Manila, and wipe out our entire ecosystem and life as we know it? Factor in the risk of one that is run by a profit-driven group in this third world country of ours, within spewing distance from a volcano that recently erupted, housed in a 40-year old unused, unmaintained, untested facility beside the sea, where corrosion is your number one enemy?
Unfortunately, this is the real scenario being veiled by proponents of the movement to activate the old Bataan nuclear power plant, a symbol of corruption during the Marcos regime, which I hope does not become the product of corruption today. They want to use an old behemoth that had been mothballed for decades, plug in millions of taxpayers’ money merely to study its feasibility, and eventually strong-arm the people into maintaining and patronizing it. Naturally, these schemers will not inform us that the nuclear facility will need billions of pesos more to repair, upgrade, and maintain. They will hide the fact that it will require millions of dollars to keep up the supply of uranium for its operation, again creating a dependence on foreign markets since this is another mineral we do not have.
The same amount earmarked for the study could instead be used to research alternative sources of energy. The budget could go a longer way and be put to better use. More socially-motivated men should be tapped to study other options, rather than paid hacks who can misinterpret the figures if the price is right.
Our country is blessed with abundant natural resources and a good ecosystem. If not for rampant illegal logging, our watersheds and dams can generate enough power to sustain our needs. So instead of water being channeled to generate useful power, it now buries entire villages and destroys mountainsides.
We associate winds to typhoons and destruction. But if we harness wind energy, it can augment some of our power needs. If instead of those distracting billboards we had erected wind turbines, we could have been able to generate enough power in the countryside to light their roads.
Geothermal sources are also aplenty. We practically sit atop a volcano. These hidden dynamos are scattered throughout the country and can be tapped to supply power to the cities around them.
We complain about the lack of job opportunities but there is an alternative source of power that can create a lot more jobs and open new prospects in the agricultural sector. This is known as bio-energy. We definitely have the manpower and the skills for this; we have the land and the most ideal climate. Instead of using the government budget to rehabilitate the nuclear plant, we can develop our bio-energy in crop production. Dr. Jose Cruz, one of the leading experts in alternative energy, has a comprehensive study on this.
We complain about the heat of the sun, but this is another major source of energy which may be explored. Developers can give incentives to the people who make use of this energy through rebates and special considerations. Solar heaters, solar air-conditioning, and solar power technologies are now available and cheaper than they were a few decades ago. Significant effort must be put into developing home designs that are energy efficient and more suited to our country.
The public sector and construction regulatory bodies must conceive policies to discourage fuel consumption-intensive processes. After all, progress is not measured by the amount of energy consumed, but the quality of life that comes in its wake. The energy sources we tap today must be sustainable for future generations. Not only will our neighborhood today be cleaner and safer, we will also ensure our place as responsible stewards and residents of tomorrow’s community. Working with nature, this is the only way we can raise the value of our property in our corner of the world. 
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