Lung cancer kills 9 residents of barangay hosting power plants

Nine persons have already died of lung cancer in a barangay in Calaca, Batangas where two coal-fired power plants are located, the office of Sen. Robert Jaworski was told yesterday.

Records from the health center in Barangay Baclaran in nearby Balayan town that were submitted to Jaworski, meanwhile, showed that 19 other residents are suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis in varying degrees of medical treatment.

Calaca is home to the 300-megawatt Calaca 1 and 2 coal-fired plants of the National Power Corp. (Napocor). Calaca I was commissioned in 1984, and Calaca 2, in 1995.

Jaworski, supported by Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda, has been pressing for an investigation into the reported health hazards posed by the coal-fired plants as claimed by the environmental activist group Greenpeace.

Those who reportedly died of lung cancer were Apolinario Cantos, Teodoro Suwelos, Guillermo Costanero, Ernesto Gatdula, Carina Magahis, Gregorio Esguerra, Petronila Caisip, Delfin Banaag and Petronila Banaag.

Jaworski lamented that while coal-fired power plants could be spewing out about 750 pounds of mercury a year, wreaking havoc on the environment and causing serious respiratory ailments, none of these facilities and the communities around them have been monitored for contamination.

Calaca plant manager Henry Alcalde recently told Jaworski, chairman of the Senate committee on environment, that they have a computerized monitoring system in place that could detect heavy presence of mercury.

Jaworski, however, refused to be allayed by Alcalde’s assurances and called for an independent body to determine whether mercury emissions from the plants are of acceptable levels.

He lamented that the government lacks the necessary equipment to monitor emissions from coal-fired plants.

In Misamis Oriental, environmental groups are opposing the plan to build a $300-million, coal-fired thermal plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva town.

Gov. Antonio Calingin, however, sees the project as a "timely opportunity to help avert the rising cost of electricity and (attract) more investors."

The German proponent Steag Ag gave assurance that they have environmental safety nets in place. — With Lino de la Cruz