About 500 residents from various barangays in Naga were mobilized for a rally to air their support for the operation of the Korean Electric Power Corp.-Salcon Power Corp. (Kepco-SPC) in their area yesterday.
Residents gathered in front of Naga's municipal hall holding placards bearing messages like ?Mga planta sulbad sa brownout (power plants are solution to brownout)? and ?trabaho dili brownout (employment not brownout).?
Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong stoked support for the 200-megawatt coal power plant being built and decried the opposition waged by environmental lawyers.
?If the coal plant is not pursued, we would be accountable to our constituents for brownouts,? he said in Cebuano.
?Gikinahanglan ang atong tingog, gikinahanglan na inyong pangusog diha sa planta. Ngano karon lang na dako na ang ilang gasto (Your voice is needed, your support is needed for the power plants. Why are there protests against the power plants when they have already spent so much),? Chiong told the crowd.
Chiong said he told the barangay captains to gather people to support the coal plant.
?There are only a few people who are against the project, but most of the people support the power plants,? he said.
Greenpeace and Cebu environmental lawyers like Benjamin Cabrido and Gloria Estenzo-Ramos opposed the construction of two coal-fired power plants operated by Kepco-Salcon, one of which would become operational in 2011.
They warned that the destructive effects of pollution caused by carbon emissions worsen global warming whose effects are seen in disturbed weather patterns and more intense storms adn flooding.
Greenpeace and the ecology lawyers also point to health risks posed by coal ash or fly ash, a pollutant which can contain toxic substances such as mercury, lead and arsenic.
But Mayor Chiong said the pwoer plants can help usher development and generate revenue for Naga.
?I am in favor of all-out support for Kepco. We are expecting revenue of 20 million to P30 million a year. There is work and even small stores in the area like videoke joints will benefit (from the project),? said Chiong.
Chiong insisted that there was no outbreak of respiratory diseases or other ailments brought about by exposure to coal ash.
He said he is open to a dialog with the eco lawyers on the coal plant.
?Based on our monthly reports, the number of cases is not alarming. We will use pollution monitoring equipment if they be the ones to buy it, ? he said.
?If there are measures to adopt, we will adopt. Let's talk, but do not go to the extent of suing the LGU (local government unit). That's unfair,? Chiongsaid.
In a separate interview Cabrido of the Global Legal Action on Climate Change (GLACC) said they have simple de mands.
?For SPC to properly handle their combustion waste according to environmental standard. For KSPC, give us a plan. They will be handling four times more than the volume of coal ash than what the present plant is producing,? he said.
Estenzo-Ramos said they are gathering documents to suport their lawsuit.
?We have waited for the recipients of the notice to sue and we have not received a formal reply. This gives us no option,? she said.
The DENR-EMB has released to media partial results of the coal ash tests on two samples taken from barangay Naalad in Naga City, particularly at a portion of the Pansoy private lot and in barangay Pangdan at t he Abarquez lot beside Pangdan river.
The test results showed that levels of heavy metals cadmium, lead and mercury are below standard.
Acting regional technical director Rolando Luego of the Environmental Management Board in Central Visayas (EMB-7) said they still have to release the consolidated result for the tests on four separate samples taken from several sites in Naga City.
Estenzo-Ramos said their group will conduct an independent study on coal ash.
?We will invite the DENR, Kepco and other stakeholders. The results of this test would be the basis for formal charges,? she said.
