BACOLOD CITY ? It?s a race against time between one group wanting to save Negros Occidental from a power shortage and another seeking to save trees.

The battle between the Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition and proponents of geothermal power development has been raging in the province since July. It started when the Energy Development Corp. (EDC), which has a geothermal plant in Mailum, Bago City, was allowed to pursue another geothermal project at the buffer zone at the foot of the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park (MKNP).

The Department of Energy, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the provincial government approved the EDC entry into the buffer zone. But Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra and the Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition opposed the move, claiming it would harm the environment.

With the proposed project, the EDC seeks to increase its power production to 49 megawatts in the second quarter of 2011, from the present 4-5 MW and 15-20 MW in 2009, Erwin Magallanes, EDC environment management division superintendent, says.

The agency has committed itself to develop only 12.5 hectares of the 169-ha buffer zone since the sustainable capacity outside is 15-20 MW and its potential resource in the zone is 25-30 MW.

As of July 29, the EDC had already cut 576 trees in the zone, according to Livino Duran, provincial environment and natural resources officer. It will be cutting 4,213 trees, mostly small ones.

Navarra and the coalition argue that the tree-cutting will destroy a rich and irreplaceable biodiversity.

On July 10, the coalition filed a class suit at the Bacolod Regional Trial Court against the EDC, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB).

Judge Rodney Bolunia of Branch 44 has yet to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the tree-cutting. On July 24, he ordered all parties to file their position papers in seven days, after which he would rule on the motion to dismiss filed by the respondents.

?If we do not get a TRO now, more trees will be cut. It breaks our heart to see this happening,? lawyer Andrea Si said.

The 169-ha buffer zone is the habitat of several protected species as classified in the Wildlife Act. It has all the characteristics of a strictly protected area defined by law, the coalition points out.

Protected species

Former Rep. Carlos ?Charlie? Cojuangco (fourth district) explains that Republic Act No. 9154 established the MKNP as a protected area and its peripheral area as buffer zone providing for its management and for other purposes.

Section 5 of the law states that the buffer zone is ?an area for the exploration, development and utilization of geothermal energy resources and other exploration activities,? he says. On the other hand, the law bans geothermal and mineral exploration within the MKNP without an act of Congress, he adds.

?We are splitting hairs in this kind of debate. The law is very clear. The buffer zone and the MKNP are two different things. The law clearly delineates where the buffer zone and where the MKNP is and what can be done where. There is nothing to debate here,? Cojuangco says.

Si argues that instead of adding a preventive layer to protect the park from any harmful activities, that law exposes it to direct harm. RA 9154 opens old-growth forests in the buffer zone to clearing, civil works and operations, permanently defaces the landscape, and disturbs the fragile ecological balance of the remaining protected areas of the park, the complaint points out.

Instead, the coalition insists that the government and the business sector should push for alternative renewable energy.

Support

Business leaders have supported the geothermal project, claiming it was vital to the growth of the province. ?We needed the additional power two years ago, we have no more reserves,? says Roberto Montelibano, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Central Negros Electric Cooperative.

James Chua, president of the Bacolod Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says that if the EDC could not tap more geothermal power in the buffer zone, it would take five more years for another plant to be built in the province, which is already suffering from a shortage.

Atienza says it is the responsibility of the DENR and the DOE to provide the people of Negros access to adequate low-priced electricity. ?We are standing on firm legal ground in allowing EDC entry into the buffer zone,? he says.

The DENR, in granting the EDC a tree-cutting permit, has set strict provisions for the protection of the environment in the buffer zone, he says. ?They (the EDC) were not given license to wantonly destroy the forests,? he says.

The coalition asked the court to declare unconstitutional sections of RA 9154 creating the buffer zone for the development of geothermal energy resources and Presidential Proclamation 1005, which declares a 1,475-ha area in the MKNP as a geothermal block.

It urged the court to annul an environment compliance certificate granted to EDC in 1995 for geothermal development and its tree-cutting permit.

Livelihood

Michael Dano-og of the Minoyan Mailum Active Farmers Federation Inc. says his group does not believe the EDC will cause large-scale damage to the environment since the firm is replanting more trees than it is cutting.

The presence of the EDC, he says, provides them with livelihood opportunities and scholarships for their children. ?If [the] EDC is not allowed to continue its operations we will go hungry, too, and our children cannot continue to go to school,? he said.

Joey Higgins, EDC spokesperson, says his firm is planting ?replacement? trees in more than the 400 ha of land as part of the company?s commitment to the PAMB. It already started planting in 40 ha, he says.

In the 1990s, the EDC also reforested about 300 ha outside the MKNP, and has committed another 100 ha to the Penro and 50 ha for the firm?s site outside the park, Higgins says.