The Department of Energy's nuclear energy development program has already reached some milestones with the following highlights ? inclusion of nuclear energy to the Philippine Energy Plan 2018-2040 last October 2020, the issuance of the Executive Order 116 that instructs the energy sector to come up with a national position on nuclear energy, the passing of HB 8733 Comprehensive Nuclear Regulatory Act, and the directive from President Duterte to conduct ground-level consultation regarding the BNPP. This development has prodded the NFBM to conduct consultations with its members and allied networks amidst the COVID pandemic. Although, reaching out to the members came as challenging amidst the pandemic with the accompanying lockdown protocols. Inspite of the challenges, the NFBM has managed to come up with a campaign plan that seeks to revitalize the anti-BNPP movement in the province and across the country. Part of the campaign is to raise the awareness of the public on the nuclear resurgence initiated by the DOE and PNRI. Thus, the launched of a series of forum billed as NFBM Learning Sessions. This learning sessions had its 4 sessions that utilizes the digital platform. The push to go nuclear has become more overt, despite the backdrop of a history of resistance against Nuclear Power Plants in the Philippines. Nuclear energy has been explicitly included in the Philippine Energy Plan 2018-2040. There is also a determined push via Memorandum of Agreement with the country¡Çs education department to aggressively promote nuclear science to high schoolers in in twenty-two (22) schools across the country. In line with this, in May 6 2021, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and Department of Education (DepEd) introduced to the public their recently developed Educational Resource Materials on Nuclear Science and Technology . Furthermore, in October 2020, President Duterte has instructed the energy Secretary that consultations on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant should be conducted in Bataan before they do anything about the BNPP. This was supported by the statement of Dr. Carlo Arcilla, the head of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), that the ¡Èfastest way to go nuclear is thru the BNPP¡É. These developments including a visible social media push to promote nuclear energy as "cleaner, cheaper, and better" than renewables poses a challenge to the present anti-nuclear advocates in terms of how well can they reach out to the broader public and at the same time widen the base of support for renewable energy and rejection of nuclear energy as an alternative source for the country. Now, the task to reach out again to a broader, especially younger constituency in the context of the overall development of the anti-nuclear movement¡Çs ability to counter the propaganda unleashed by pro-nuclear elements is imperative. Nevertheless, developing a position and recommendation from the communities from the ground-level regarding the fate of the BNPP in particular, and the country's nuclear development program in general shall be necessary and should be undertaken seriously by the organization. Based on the foregoing, the NFBM seeks to undertake a research project titled: The BNPP from the grassroots lens: A research on the social acceptability of renewable energies as priority alternative to the BNPP. This research project aims to add a ¡Èmirror¡É to see and cover the blind side of DOE¡Çs persistent proposal to rehabilitate the BNPP as a way to start the nuclear legacy of the country and to rather build on the potentials of renewable energy to be the alternative source to BNPP that shall be put on as a policy recommendation generated from the ground. The research working hypothesis would be: Renewable energy is a feasible alternative to achieving energy sufficiency and sustainability. Thus, with the government support for the full implementation of the Renewable Energy Act and with funding investments provided for tapping the available resources based on studies per areas, the problem on energy sufficiency and stability could be addressed. This research study would cover the conduct of an interview, random survey and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) among the community in Morong where the BNPP is located and local government units in the province. The research shall get to know and evaluate the current position and readiness of the community as stakeholder about the current plans of the DOE on nuclear energy relating to the BNPP, their level of awareness/knowledge of renewable energy sources available as an alternative and their specific recommendations to be considered in policy recommendation. Further, this research study would help in the formulation and developing of the policy recommendations to be submitted to the DOE and office of the President in response to the directive of having the communities consulted or as a particular agenda for policy/program implementation.

In particular, the following fundamental questions shall be answered: 1. What does the community think about the plans to re-open the BNPP and the nuclear to include in the energy mix? 2. Can the renewable energy be a sufficient alternative to the BNPP? 3. What are the support needed from the government for the renewable energy to be successful? 4. What are the policy recommendations that the communities would like to offer to the DOE and to President Duterte regarding the BNPP? 5. Are there any RE sources operating in the community or province?

This research project generally aims to determine and evaluate the position of the grassroots level about the DOE¡Çs plan to open the BNPP and the social acceptability of the renewable energy as alternative solution. Specifically, the research project has the following objectives: 1) Determine the current views, reaction, concerns of the residents of Morong on the issue of opening the BNPP; 2) Determine the level of awareness of the local community folks about renewable energy; 3) Determine any RE source operating in the community/province and the feasibility of RE as a priority alternative from the local community¡Çs point of view; 4) Determine the current needs for capacity/knowledge-building activities of the community on renewable energy; 5) Come up with specific policy recommendations regarding the BNPP from the ground-level; 6) Submit the policy recommendation to the DOE about the BNPP¡Çs use. [Sep. 2021]