Negros group up in arms vs coal-fired power plant project

BACOLOD CITY — A group calling itself the "Negrosanons Against Coal-Fired Power Plant" (NACPP) vowed yesterday to barrage Malacañang and other concerned government agencies with letters of protest until the "midnight" environmental clearance certificate (ECC) which former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonio Cerilles issued to the controversial project in Pulupandan town is revoked and recalled.

This developed as acting Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joemari Gerochi ordered the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) to review the process of issuing ECCs to prevent a repeat of the Pulupandan controversy.

The coal-fired power plant will be built in Barangay Patic, Pulupandan, about 31.3 kilometers south of this city.

NACPP convenor Romana de los Reyes said the project’s ECC was highly questionable because it was issued despite widespread opposition from the residents themselves.

De los Reyes added that even the provincial office of the DENR was not informed of the ECC which was approved last December.

The ECC could not also be issued without an endorsement from the provincial government, she said.

Aside from Pulupandan, the cities of Bago and Silay rejected the coal-fired power plant project in 1997.

In 1998, the project proponents moved to Pulupandan where they met similar opposition, but were able to proceed because Mayor Antonio Suatengco, whose family owns the proposed plant’s site, endorsed the project, De los Reyes said.

Meanwhile, De los Reyes welcomed the statements of support they have received from environmentalists all over the world.

The Greenpeace International recently welcomed Gerochi’s move for a review of the ECC issued to the power plant project. — With Jose Rodel Clapano