Outrage in Subic over coal plant deal

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Outrage consumed most residents and businessmen here at a Thursday forum organized by Zambales officials after word spread that the government had approved the Subic coal-fired power plant project despite near unanimous objections.

A member of the board of directors of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) confirmed that the agency would be ratifying today a lease development contract awarded to Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RPEI or RP Energy).

RP Energy is a consortium of energy firms composed of Manila Electric Co., Aboitiz Power Inc., and Taiwan Cogen. It has spearheaded the Subic power project, which aims to construct and operate a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Redondo Peninsula in this free port.

Zambales officials, residents and businessmen turned down the project in various consultations mounted by the government because of fears that it would harm the environment.

Philip Camara, the only SBMA official who attended the forum, said RP Energy’s lease development agreement (LDA) was approved on Jan. 8, but he described the document as “full of holes.”

“RP Energy has not met the conditions that we required of them, so I really doubt if the LDA will be ratified in our next board meeting [today],” he told the businessmen.

A party-list group blamed Malacañang for pursuing the project against the community’s wishes.

In a telephone interview, John Carlos de los Reyes of Ang Kapatiran said the Aquino administration “should be condemned for pushing the project.”

He said officials like former energy secretary and now Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras are “so bullish about this [energy project], they are ramming it down the throats of every one here, and let the community be damned in the process.”

The forum had invited SBMA officials to shed light on the project, but the agency’s chair, Roberto Garcia, said it would be “premature to discuss the issues” at this time.