Executive Order No. 164

Also known as: EO 164 · EO No. 164, s. 2022 · Adopting a National Position for a Nuclear Energy Program, and for Other Purposes (long title)

Government

Definition

Executive Order No. 164 is an issuance of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, signed in Manila on February 28, 2022 and officially titled “Adopting a National Position for a Nuclear Energy Program, and for Other Purposes.” The order adopts a national position under which nuclear power “shall be tapped as a viable alternative baseload power source” as coal plants face retirement, grounded in reliable and affordable supply, the highest standards of nuclear safety, security and safeguards, and decarbonization of the power sector. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022, Senate Issuances Library — NEP-IAC)

The order’s implementing machinery is the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC), not created by EO 164 but established under Executive Order No. 116 (s. 2020); EO 164 gives the committee added functions — a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework including an independent regulator, the national strategy and roadmap, the IAEA Milestones Approach, and service as the Nuclear Energy Program Implementing Organization — while Section 6 mandates the Department of Energy to develop and implement the program. Section 5 directs it to collate audits and conduct further studies on the use and viability of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the subject of this wiki’s entry of that name. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022, Inquirer.net — Duterte signs EO for nuclear power use)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	N/A — covered in Wikipedia’s Nuclear power in the Philippines
Wikidata	N/A
DBpedia	N/A
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	N/A
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	N/A
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	N/A
Google Scholar	Executive Order No. 164 s. 2022 nuclear energy program Philippines baseload NEP-IAC Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
ConceptNet	N/A
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

EO 164
EO No. 164, s. 2022
Adopting a National Position for a Nuclear Energy Program, and for Other Purposes (long title)

Examples and Analogies

Position, not plant: EO 164 adopts a policy stance rather than building anything — like a zoning ordinance, it changes what may be decided later without deciding where or whether to build. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)
Committee as program office: the NEP-IAC’s designation as the program’s implementing organization makes it the single desk for the program’s agencies. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)
Verified statutory data:
Title: “Adopting a National Position for a Nuclear Energy Program, and for Other Purposes”
Signed: February 28, 2022, Manila, by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, attested by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea
Position adopted: nuclear power as a viable alternative baseload power source
Implementing bodies: Department of Energy (Section 6); NEP-IAC, established under EO No. 116 (s. 2020), given added functions (Section 4)
Bataan provision: Section 5 orders collated audits and further studies on the BNPP’s use and viability
Stated drivers: 4.4 percent annual demand growth, nearly 68 GW of added capacity by 2040, declining natural gas, the technology-neutral Philippine Energy Plan 2018–2040
Stated public support: a 2019 survey showing about 79 percent acceptance of rehabilitating an existing plant and about 65 percent approval of new ones

Usage Scenarios

1. National Energy Planning

The order supplies the policy premise for including nuclear power in the energy mix, anchored to the Philippine Energy Plan’s technology-neutral approach. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)

2. Inter-Agency Coordination

Agencies coordinate strategy, roadmaps, and timelines through the NEP-IAC, liaising with the IAEA through the DOE, DOST, and DFA. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)

3. Regulatory Preparation

The committee is tasked with ensuring a legal and regulatory framework — an independent regulator, treaty ratification — groundwork completed in 2025 by Republic Act No. 12305. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022, Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines)

4. Reassessing the Bataan Plant

Section 5 puts the BNPP back on the technical agenda: collated audits and further studies are to ground any recommendation on its use and viability. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)

Strategies

Baseload diversification: nuclear is framed as one alternative among several as coal declines, not a single-technology commitment. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)
Reuse of existing machinery: EO 164 loads added functions onto the NEP-IAC constituted in 2020 rather than creating a new body. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)
Statutory groundwork: the framework the order anticipated was completed in 2025 by Republic Act No. 12305, replacing the 1968 atomic-energy statute. (Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines)

Security and Safety Measures

Peaceful use commitment: the order commits the State to the peaceful use of nuclear technology — a non-proliferation posture. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022, Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines)
Independent regulator: among the committee’s mandated functions is a legal framework with an independent regulator — separating promoter from policeman. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)
Study before decision: on the BNPP, the order’s safeguard is procedural — audits, further studies, and recommendations before any use is made of the plant. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)

Historical Context

The order cannot be read apart from the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, announced in 1973 amid the oil crisis and built from 1976; a post–Three Mile Island inquiry reported over 4,000 defects, and siting near major faults and Mount Pinatubo, with allegations of overpricing and corruption, shadowed the project until President Corazon Aquino mothballed it after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The plant was never fueled; the era’s regulation rested on Republic Act No. 5207, the Atomic Energy Regulatory and Liability Act of 1968. (Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines, Inquirer.net — Duterte signs EO for nuclear power use, LawPhil — RA No. 5207)

Duterte’s government revived the question: the NEP-IAC was constituted in 2020, an IAEA infrastructure review followed that December, and EO 164, reported that March with Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s support, converted the study effort into a national position. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who had signaled he would revisit the Bataan project, signed Republic Act No. 12305, the Philippine National Nuclear Energy Safety Act, on September 18, 2025, creating a nuclear regulatory body; the BNPP question remains under the order’s study mandate — its current status. (Inquirer.net — Duterte signs EO for nuclear power use, Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines)

Challenges and Controversies

The Bataan Legacy

Every step toward nuclear power revives the BNPP record — defects, fault-line siting, corruption allegations, and debt paid for a plant that never produced a watt; EO 164 accordingly orders studies rather than committing to the plant. (Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines, LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)

Safety, Siting, and Cost

The order’s own commitments — an independent regulator, IAEA guidance, treaty ratification — answer standing objections to nuclear power in an archipelago of a thousand inhabited islands and high power prices. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022, Wikipedia — Nuclear power in the Philippines)

Public Acceptance and Transparency

The order leans on a 2019 survey showing strong acceptance of plant rehabilitation and majority approval of new ones; its Strategic Communication Plan function keeps the public case alive as studies proceed. (LawPhil — EO No. 164, s. 2022)