*Also published in Sun*Star CdeO July 8, 2015
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| In Libertad, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte |
Through traveling alone, I get to marvel at the diversity of
vegetation and marine life teeming throughout the region. Looking at
that led me to inconclusively wonder that the Provincial Government must
have been very supportive to its constituents. People are very warm and
welcoming, too -- a testimony to Filipino hospitality. No wonder Lanao
del Norte has been hailed as “The Land of Beauty and Bounty.”
However, during the first quarter this year, while traveling on bus,
one cannot help but notice a vast hectare of land being fenced off just
along the highway of the coastal villages of Libertad and Tacub in the
municipality of Kauswagan. Homes were being demolished, families
relocated and coconut trees were being leveled to the ground.
In an article published by inquirer.net dated December 30, 2014, I
have found out that the area havocked was part of the P50-billion
540-megawatt coal power plant energy project financed by Ayala
Corporation through GNPower Ltd. Co. and will be fully operational by
2017.
And then it hit me: How was this possible? How could the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan of Lanao del Norte allow such project thrive in the region?
From a health and environmental perspective, how was this approved
knowing the negative repercussions a coal plant could wreak to the flora
and fauna of the province?
Studies have shown that coal is known to be the single biggest source of climate changing carbon dioxide pollution. Offshoots to this are serious health problems to people living near coal power plants and environmental degradation. In the Philippines, coal provides 42 percent of the Philippines’ electricity but spews over 39 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Browsing at the official website of the province, five of its
municipalities are part of the Iligan-Cagayan Industrial Corridor; 10
are coastal towns blessed with rich fishing grounds: Ilana bay, Panguil
bay, and Iligan Bay and; 12 are upland towns blessed with vast
agricultural products.
Dethronement
Looking into that, I cannot help but suddenly muse on the province’s
slogan – “The Land of Beauty and Bounty.” How will the Province defend
their title and resist dethronement?
I could only imagine a scene of myself passing by the municipality
and seeing the power plant spewing dark and dangerous ashes containing
mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals from its four
huge hyperbolic cooling towers diffusing into thin air inhaled by
hundreds of students from the two schools beside and fronting the coal
plant.
Taking into account, how can the province of Lanao del Norte fully
implement the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 and at the same time
allow such environmentally degrading project to operate in the region?
It clearly states in Article 2 of the act that “The State recognizes the
principle that "polluters must pay." More so, how will the local
government unit address these two incompatible forces that simply cannot
exist simultaneously?
I could also picture out the amount of toxic chemicals the coal plant
would discharge to Panguil Bay. According to Massachusetts-based
organization Union of Concerned Scientists, the water used by coal power
plant gets released back into the water hotter by up to 20-25 degrees
Fahrenheit creating “thermal pollution” that can decrease fertility and
increase heart rates in fishes that thrive in marine sanctuaries. It
would be a massacre of the organisms thriving in the bay.
Just so you know, the municipality of Kauswagan is a supplier of fish
and other aqua-marine products of the Province of Lanao del Norte and
Iligan City. It is also home to several marine sanctuaries and houses
about 21 hectares of mangrove forests.
In the official website of the municipality, the place is home to two
hectares of newly established marine sanctuary. Seashells and corals
are also found abundantly along the areas, which are potential raw
materials for the shell craft industry. All these could be ripped apart
once the 540-MW coal power plant starts its operation come 2017.
Another study conducted by Union of Concerned Scientists found that
one out of every 100 children who drink groundwater contaminated with
arsenic and mercury from coal power plant wastes were at risk of
developing cancer. Think about the number of students from two nearby
schools in the coal plant.
I would also like to ask, how will the province of Lanao del Norte
implement the Clean Water Act of 2014? Under Section 2 of the Act, the
state has the policy to streamline the processes and procedures in the
prevention, control and abatement of pollution of the country's water
resources. Again, a coal power plant approved by the province countered
by the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act simply doesn’t make any sense.
Where are the laws when you need them? How would DENR address such
issue?
In a recent article published by Rappler, experts warn that the
country will have the highest coal share in Asia. The country even has
23 new coal-fired power plants lined up for commercial operation in the
next five years. Clearly, the government has not been investing much on
renewable sources of energy which the country is very rich in.
In an article published by the blog Ligang Makabagong Kabataan on May
22, 2015, the DENR-EMB Region 10 surprisingly said that it cannot just
simply say ‘no’ to coal projects since there are no existing laws in the
country that prohibit coal-fired power plants to be put up adding that,
as long as the investors complied all the requirements then they have
no reason to deny the application.
The Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources is the national authority responsible for
pollution prevention and control, and environmental impact assessment. I
would like to stress that out.
‘Laudato Si’/care for our common home
Perhaps, the greatest downfall of the province and the entire country
is the negligence of the recent encyclical of Pope Francis which mainly
addresses climate change and countering it sending ripples of hope to
countries all throughout the world cutting across cultures, religion,
and beliefs and lambasting nations that do not value the only precious
planet that humanity has.
So, is this how the country respond to the Pope’s encyclical knowing
that majority of its population are Catholics? Not that it matters but,
the point is, the Filipinos have been in too much pain and loss from
natural catastrophes that struck us yearly.
To quote Pope Francis in his holiness’ encyclical, “The poor are hurt
more by climate change.” If the country contributes more to the growing
amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere more powerful typhoons will
envelop the country displacing millions of Filipinos and will have
serious implications for the enjoyment of basic rights (shelter, food,
water, etc.). Inconclusively, I think it is safe to say that climate
change is directly and indirectly intertwined with human rights.
Anywhere across the globe, coastal villages depend on the sea for
survival as the farmland is to the rural villages. The coal-fired power
plant in the region shall start taking away both and I see no picture of
beauty and bounty there. Protecting the rights of these people and
helping them improve their living conditions should be the primary
concern of the province and protecting the environment should be
tantamount to the province’s slogan. One should know that the people and
the environment are the very reason why Lanao del Norte is hailed as
the “Land of Beauty and Bounty.”
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link to the official website of the province: http://www.lanaodelnorte.gov.ph/
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