Bohol PB wants P1.3B hydro project stopped

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – The Bohol Provincial Board yesterday asked the Departments of Energy and of the Environment and Natural Resources to stop the construction of the P1.3 billion hydro project located between Inabanga and Danao towns.

The PB, in a session presided by Vice Gov. Concepcion Lim, approved a resolution “to stop all the activities and construction at the Cantakoy Hydro Power Plant for non-observance of environmental regulations imposed by the DENR,” or for lack of transparency and consultations.

The resolution was initiated by PB Member Josephine Socorro Jumamoy who, in her privilege speech, cited parts of Section 13 of the Hydropower Service Contract between the DOE and the Sta. Clara Power Corp.

A similar resolution was also filed by PB Member Romulo Cepedoza who delivered also a privilege speech over the same issue. It was a first for the PB to have two privilege speeches in one session.

Jumamoy and Cepedoza are both representing the 2nd district of Bohol, the former being from Inabanga and the latter from Danao.

The PB further approved two separate resolutions, as introduced by Cepedoza, one of which asking the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office of Nestor Canda, and the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) represented by Leonilo Lafuente to conduct a probe on the “illegal tree cutting activities and mineral extraction” at said Cantakoy area in connection with the hydro project.

The second approved resolution requested the Provincial Legal Office to conduct a similar probe on the matter.

Jumamoy clarified however that she was never against development and the entry of investment but she argued: “This brazen disregard of the people’s right to know is a dangerous precedence.”

Cepedoza told the PB that, sometime in 2009, he learned of the project when his uncle Engr. Asisclo Gonzaga, president of Sta. Clara Power Corp, presented to Danao officials, including him, the Shareholders Agreement for the hydro development.

The sharing was as follows: Corporation, 50 percent, provincial gov’t (10 percent), Danao and Inabanga towns (15 percent each), and Bohol Electric Cooperatives I and II (10 percent each).

Cepedoza further claimed that such agreement was “lost in oblivion” until recently when he knew the project has already begun without the PB’s knowledge because there was no feasibility study presented.

The project is now undertaken by Quadriver Energy Corp, in a joint venture with AC energy Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ayala Corp, allegedly with 70 percent share, and Sta. Clara with 30 percent, Cepedoza alleged.

The PB member accused the proponents of the project of “clear public betrayal at its highest level” because the province and his town, Danao, and also Inabanga were excluded in the venture.

Another contentious issue on the project, a Capitol source said, was that it has not been indorsed by the Provincial Development Council, as the usual process for any proposed big projects in the province.

The project contractors and environmental officials have yet to issued their side of the matter. (FREEMAN)