Barito’s $5 B Bid Highlights Global Geothermal Power Race, Colonial Legacies, and Community Energy Rights
Original framing: “Barito Makes More Than $5 Billion Takeover Bid for EDC” — Bloomberg
The bid echoes a century‑long pattern of foreign capital exploiting the Philippines' natural resources, from sugar plantations to mining concessions, often under the guise of modernization. Recognising this continuity reveals how contemporary renewable‑energy deals can perpetuate historic inequities if unchecked.
Barito’s $5 billion bid is not merely a corporate expansion but a flashpoint where historic patterns of extractive colonialism, contemporary climate imperatives, and indigenous stewardship intersect.
By integrating indigenous knowledge, robust scientific monitoring, and community‑benefit mechanisms, the Philippines can transform geothermal assets into equitable, low‑carbon power while averting the repetition of past injustices. Regional cooperation and conditional climate finance provide the institutional scaffolding needed to align private capital with public good. Ultimately, a trickster‑inspired re‑framing—seeing the deal as a narrative to be subverted—can catalyse policy shifts that foreground justice over profit.