Groups count on Lopez to stop coal project

WITH the appointment of Regina Lopez as environment secretary, green advocates and church leaders in Batangas have expressed hope that the incoming administration of President-elect Rodrigo Dutere will stand in the way of a proposed coal project in their province.

“I am confident that Lobo, Batangas City, [and] the whole province, most specially the center of centers of the world marine biodiversity, under your leadership will be a government priority concern,” Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said in a text message to Lopez.

The message of Arguelles, who is currently in the United States, was forwarded to members of the Green Thumb Coalition, whose convenors include Lopez. The coalition of over 40 national and local organizations promoting environment conservation has actively campaigned against coal and mining projects in Batangas.

Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc. is planning to erect a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Barangay Pinamucan Ibaba in Batangas City. Last week, the city council approved a resolution to issue the locational clearance for the project.

In the neighboring town of Lobo, Canadian-Australian-owned Egerton Gold Philippines Inc. and Mindoro Resource Ltd. are seeking government permits to extract gold from 20,000 hectares of land in Barangay Balibago.

Both Batangas City and Lobo have been identified as biodiversity critical areas for being close to the Verde Island Passage, a strait known as the world’s center of marine biodiversity between Batangas and Mindoro provinces.

In a phone interview Friday, Batangas city councilor and coalition member Kristine Balmes said she expected Lopez to deny JG Summit’s application for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) as a prerequisite to operate the coal plant.

“[The] application for an ECC is still pending, so it might not be issued anymore,” Balmes said.

According to her, the incoming environment secretary has joined since last year the series of rallies opposing the coal plant, which environmentalists tag as the dirtiest fuel source.

LOPEZ                    ARNOLD ALMACEN

“We’ve also been pushing for her (Lopez) to be [environment] secretary as early as April,” Balmes said. She claimed that Duterte made the offer to Lopez even before the May 9 elections.

The Green Thumb Coalition has issued a nine-point action plan, drawn from Duterte’s pronouncements during the campaign period, “to gauge [his] commitment to a propeople, pro-environment agenda for his first 100 days of office.”

This includes a ban on logging, the expansion of the National Integrated Protected Areas System, and the passage of the Forest Resources Bill, and covers national land use, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture, human rights, climate justice, waste management and sustainable development.

The group is pushing for the passage of the Alternative Minerals Management Bill and the issuance of a moratorium on large-scale mining, for rescinding permits issued to new coal-fired plants, and for beginning a just transition to renewable energy.

Duterte and Lopez aqlready discussed the action plans, Balmes said.