MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has issued an environment compliance certificate (ECC) to the 100-MW coal-fired power plant that will be built by the Alcantara Group in the Zamboanga Ecozone, Sitio San Ramon, Barangay Talisayan, Zamboanga City. The project is supported by the largest labor group in the area.
The DENR said San Ramon Power Inc.may proceed with the project implementation after securing all the necessary permits from other pertinent government agencies. The ECC was signed by Director Juan Miguel T. Cuna by authority of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje.
Tirso G. Santillan Jr., CEO of San Ramon Power, said they are fully prepared to comply with the requirements of the ECC on the matter of transparency and stakeholder education, social development program, ecosystem enhancement, air and water quality, greenhouse gas mitigation and hazard management.
Earlier, Jose J. Suan, president of the Philippine Integrated Industries Labor Union (PHILU) and concurrent vice president of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), said his organization’s 15,000 members endorsed the plant as labor has been the hardest hit by the daily three-four hour blackouts over the past four months.
Suan said unless the power condition improves, workers’ man-hours and working days will be reduced drastically because manufacturing plants cannot go into full-scale operation, and that most of the workers are employed with the canning, plywood and fishing industries.
In a worst-case scenario, Suan said that plants may have to relocate to other places where there is stable and sufficient power supply, thereby causing a huge unemployment problem in Zamboanga city.
At the same time, San Ramon Power Inc. (SRPI) consultant and former Napocor Regional chief engineer Ruben Conti stressed the “determination and readiness” of SRPI to respond to the needs of the people of Zamboanga and the rest of southern Mindanao; adding that the plant is expected to be completed in three years time and will be able to provide the needed power needs of the city, which is at present pegged at 85 megawatts.
Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, addressing a recent multi-sector meet to address the crippling power crisis in the city, also categorically stated he was adopting the a resolution of the City Council interposing no objection to the planned construction of the100-megawatt coal fired power plant. Late last year, the plant got a big boost after the Department of Energy gave the green light to the project under the Power Development Plan of President Aquino.