Power plant seen to "double" risk

CEBU, Philippines - Will the operation of the 200-megawatt power plant of the Korean Electric Power Corporation – Salcon Power Corporation deliver twice the blow on the health of residents of Naga town?

Vic Obando, officer of Nagpakabana, an organization allied with the Cebu Alliance for Renewable Energy, said conditions of several residents in the town seem to indicate so.

Environmental advocates conducted a medical evaluation among Naga residents to prove the threat of an expanded coal plant, which they claim as having the potential to “double” the environmental waste of the existing plant.

The 200-megawatt power plant is expected to be operational in 2012.

Obando said 42 people have suffered from intestinal diseases in barangay Pangdan alone. Emila Gonza, 29, married, and a resident near the area, also said that almost all children there, including her own, have been suffering from skin disease.

“Ang mga bata diri naay pangagod sa tiil, kana bang katol-katol sa panit ug kini tungod sa abog nga gikan sa planta. Kung mu-hangin gani, grabe kaayo ang abog unya kung mag-uwan, mudagayday and abog nga naa sa yuta diri sa among panimalay,” Gonza said.

In an interview with The Freeman, Dr. Cora Lou Kintanar, chief of Local Health Assistance of the Department of Health 7, said it is not surprising to hear complaints such as skin diseases, renal problems, and respiratory diseases.

“These are effects common to everyone especially in a place where the existence of coal ash is evident,” Kintanar said.

The team that conducted the medical evaluation was composed of, among others, representatives from the Cebu Institute of Medicine, Visayas Community Medical Center, and Visayas Primary Heath Care. Kintanar herself brought boxes of medicine and tubes of ointment as medical assistance from DOH.

Dr. Romy Quijano, a toxicologist from Manila, headed the evaluation.

The sampling of the coal waste in Naga will be done early today with representatives from DENR, local government units, and environmental supporters.

DOH will send toxicologists to check the adverse effects of chemicals of the residents and epidemiologists to study the factors affecting the health and illness of the entire population.

The results of the study would reportedly serve as the foundation and logic of interventions to protect public health and the issuance of preventive medicine.

Obando said their advocacy, together with Greenpeace and environmental lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, is to prove that fly ash contains mercury, a deadly neutroxin; arsenic, a carcinogen, as well as substances lead and chromium.

Obando alleged that the indiscriminate dumping of coal waste in barangay Colon, South Poblacion, Pangdan, and Tangke 1 brought health hazards in the community.

Residents from these barangays also reportedly complain that the water supply from their artesian well is no longer potable.

“Ang uban moreklamo na baho daw og taya ang tubig unya dili na mahimong imnon,” he said.

Michele Domocol, Convener of the Visayas Climate Action Network, said it is their aim to address environmental issues that concern public health, “which should not be compromised with the envisioned income or revenue the government will be earning.”

Meanwhile, Owen Migraso, Research & Advocacy Program Coordinator of Fisherfolk Development Center, said a private investigator has been commissioned to look into the Environmental Compliance Certificate of KEPCO-SPC. — Marjun A. Baguio/JMO    (FREEMAN NEWS)