Ex-Pangasinan lawmaker still firm on pro-nuke stand

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines – There is no stopping former congressman Mark Cojuangco in pushing for a nuclear power plant in the Philippines.

Cojuangco said he is even willing to have a nuclear power plant near his residence in Sison town this province to prove it is safe.

Cojuangco told the launching of Media in Action forum of the Pangasinan Press and Radio Club Inc. that he would continue to share his knowledge about the benefits of a nuclear plant even after the recent crisis that hit the northeastern part of Japan brought about by a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

He said that in all the 440 nuclear sites worldwide, there have been controversies on nuclear power but logic and reason prevailed over hearsay and unfounded fear.

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz sent a text message daring Cojuangco and other pro-nuclear power advocates to have the plant built near their houses.

Cojuangco authored a House bill when he was the fifth district representative of the province pushing for the commissioning of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

“If only there is a sea in Sison, I would have a plant built beside my house,” he said.

Cojuangco said there are nuclear plants that need not be built near the sea for their cooling tower but it is more expensive.

“So if Napocor is willing to build that kind of plant, though more expensive, to be constructed near my house in Sison, by all means,” he said.

According to Cojuangco, he even went to a nuclear plant in Switzerland in October last year and swam in the water discharge of the plant in the sea and drank from it to prove it is safe.

He said the BNPP’s earthquake and tsunami design was far better than the ones in Fukushima, Japan built more than 30 years ago. 

He said Filipino engineers who built the BNPP must be commended for having better knowledge than their Japanese counterparts at that time.

Asked if his advocacy weakened because of an earlier statement of his cousin President Aquino in declaring against nuclear power, Cojuangco said the President should study all the reasons why other nations chose to go nuclear.