Romero’s Phil. Ecology Systems Corp., or PhilEco, hired BDO Capital and Investment Corp. as financial advisor for the $200-million (P11.4 billion) power project, the investment bank’s president, Eduardo Francisco, confirmed to InsiderPH.
The company, in partnership with Japan’s Kanadevia Corp., already submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Metro Manila Development Authority to secure an original proponent status, which grants a bidding advantage in a mandated public auction.
Romero lines up funding
Kanadevia, which developed the technology that burns waste at higher temperatures to cut emissions and improve energy output, will also invest in the project.
Francisco said a group of lenders, including the Asian Development Bank, are keen on funding the waste-to-energy facility, marking Romero’s foray into the energy sector.
“We plan to do the financial close in the first quarter next year,” he said.
Smokey Mountain’s second life
Romero, who built his fortune through construction and port operations, made headlines in the 1990s when he redeveloped Smokey Mountain, the Manila dumpsite so named for the towering piles of burning trash.
Its closure displaced families who had long scavenged the site, but it also paved the way for their relocation to nearby housing projects.
Through PhilEco, Romero created a new sanitary landfill in Navotas, with municipal waste ferried there from Tondo via a marine transfer station.
Trash to cash venture
Under Romero’s proposal, trash collected from cities can now be used as fuel for the new plant.
“Before, this technology was not so good, but now there’s new technology. When I went to Japan, I saw these facilities operating even beside school buildings and there was no smoke being emitted. That same technology will be brought here,” Francisco said.
“So don’t talk trash because there’s value,” he added.
The project first came to light on June 20, 2025, when President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced in Osaka, Japan the investment plan of Kanadevia Corp. for a waste-to-energy project in Manila.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
