Zambales execs to SBMA: Heed court

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Local government officials opposed to the proposed 600-megawatt coal-fired plant project here urged the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to heed the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that had frozen the project.

The appellate court, in a May 22 ruling, affirmed its earlier decisions to invalidate the lease and development agreement (LDA) and the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) covering the power project being developed by the consortium Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy).

SBMA Chair Roberto Garcia said the CA ruling would be elevated to the Supreme Court.

Zambales Vice Gov. Ramon Lacbain II said the SBMA must “respect the court because this project has no ECC, [therefore it has] no basis to proceed.”

“They don’t even have a contract with the SBMA because that, too, has been invalidated,” he said. “They can appeal [the ruling] but first they have to respect the court. They are still bound by the laws of this country, after all,” he said.

He said the SBMA now has the jurisdiction over the property it leased to RP Energy because the contract had been nullified.

“The SBMA should start considering giving the site to renewable energy firms that can use it to generate power without harming the environment,” he said.

The court quashed the June 8, 2010, (LDA) between the SBMA and RP Energy involving 380,000 square meters of land that would host the plant.

Outgoing Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon Jr. also welcomed the CA ruling, which, he said, “recognizes the fact that local government units need to approve environmentally-sensitive projects inside the free port zone.”

Lacbain said Garcia should be “grateful to the CA because [the SBMA] can review the LDA and ensure that Subic is protected, including its investors in the tourism sector.”

He said it was Garcia who initiated the social acceptability process, which confirmed that Subic stakeholders had disapproved the project. Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon