SC upholds environmental permit of 600-MW coal plant in Subic

MANILA, Philippines–The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals stopping the 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant project of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy) in Subic.

The high court upheld the validity of the December 22, 2008, Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which the Court of Appeals invalidated.

At a press conference, high court spokesperson Theodore Te said that with a vote of 13-0, the Supreme Court reversed and set aside the Court of Appeals decision and denied the writ of kalikasan for insufficiency of evidence.

The Supreme Court ruling junked the petition filed by Teddy Casiño, Raymond Palatino, Rafael Mariano, and Emerenciana de Jesus.

In invalidating the ECC, the appeals court said the validity of the certificate was put in issue by the parties due to the absence of a vital signature, that of Luis Miguel Aboitiz, on the Statement of Accountability portion.

The appellate court stressed that “[t]he importance of signing the Statement of Accountability cannot be shrugged off by respondent RP Energy as a mere ‘formal defect not so material as to affect the validity of the entire document.’”

The writ of kalikasan case was filed in the Supreme Court on July 20, 2012, by Kabataan party-list and Olongapo City-based environmental group No-to-Coal.

Respondents included RP Energy, the DENR, and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority. The case was later remanded to the Court of Appeals which held hearings from November 5 to December 14, 2012.

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