Hearing on Subic coal plant questioned

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Residents, businessmen and officials of communities surrounding this economic zone slammed the conduct of a public hearing by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on the proposal to build a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant here, saying not all stakeholders were invited to the event.

The hearing, which is part of the process needed for the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the coal-fired power plant, became a forum for the coalition opposing the project, whose representatives stood up to assail the conduct of the hearing.

David Evangelista, a spokesperson for the project proponent, RP Energy, inadvertently began the furor when he insisted to use only Filipino in his PowerPoint presentation despite the large number of foreign locators and residents in the audience.

Howls of protest rose from the participants, many of whom said they only learned about the hearing a few days ago. Evangelista never got the chance to proceed with his presentation because the hearing broke up due to appeals to reset it.

Jen Velarmino, spokesperson of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber for Health and Environment Conservation (SBF-CHEC), asked the DENR representatives to clarify the forum’s process.

Stakeholders

“What is the program? Who are invited? Who are the participants? Who will present which information? We have to define this so we know how you are going to engage the stakeholders,” she said.

Velarmino said most stakeholders in the Subic free port and its surrounding communities in Zambales and Olongapo City were not invited to the public hearing.

“In the beginning, this is anomalous … We don’t accept this. This is a one-sided consultation. We don’t trust this process,” she said.

Zambales Vice Gov. Ramon Lacbain II said he learned about the hearing “by accident.”

“Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. is out of the country, and so I am representing him. But I wasn’t invited to this, perhaps because the Sangguniang Panlalawigan has repeatedly voiced its objection to RP Energy’s coal plant,” he said.

Lacbain asked the DENR to provide them with a list of who it considers to be stakeholders for the project.

“The DENR also has to ensure that every one is treated fairly, and not make it seem like they are taking orders from RP Energy. Why are you not inviting the stakeholders?” he said.

Stamp of approval?

He was also worried that the DENR might be using the public hearing to put a stamp of approval on the RP Energy project.

“We are afraid because the ECC for the first 300-MW [project] was issued by the DENR without consulting the stakeholders. You don’t care about the opposition, you just want to present, and let us ask thousands of questions, and still RP Energy will get their ECC,” Lacbain said.

Ferdinand Magrata, who represented Olongapo Mayor James Gordon Jr., reminded the DENR and RP Energy about the statement of Raymond Cunningham, first vice president for business development of Aboitiz Power and member of the steering committee of RP Energy, who earlier said the company would leave Subic if an “overwhelming majority” of people would reject the project.

Mavic Yao, a representative of the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau who handled the public hearing, said: “This is a continuous process. Even after they get an ECC, the consultation will continue.”

Yao, however, said the DENR must complete the process in 40 working days, meaning the hearing should end by November.

“[Stakeholders who oppose the project] can ask for deferment. But we have a review committee, composed of members from the academe and consultants with specializations, that would decide whether to issue the ECC,” she said.