Greenpeace to CHR: Investigate assault

International environmental group Greenpeace asked the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) the other day to conduct an investigation into the Nov. 10 violent dispersal at the state-owned Masinloc power plant in Zambales where five of its members were beaten up by security personnel.

"We are requesting the commission’s effective and immediate intervention on the matter by initiating an inquiry to ensure that those responsible for this deplorable attack on peaceful activists are taken to task for their actions," said Von Hernandez, director of the Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaign.

"We believe that violent dispersals like this and the issues upon which we base our campaigns fall squarely within the commission’s mandate. By protesting on-site, we were not only exercising our rights to protest peacefully but also asserting our rights to live in a safe and healthy environment," he added.

"The action was meant to help put the spotlight of public scrutiny on the problem of climate change, the greatest threat that our planet faces today," Hernandez said.

On the morning of Nov. 10, Greenpeace activists went to the Masinloc power plant to display streamers protesting the use of coal in generating power, and thus draw attention to the planned expansion of coal power plants in the country and across Asia.

But security personnel of the power plant allegedly beat up the protesters — three Filipinos, a German and a New Zealander — after they had climbed the fence.

"The violent reaction of the National Power Corp. guards has so far been the most severe attack against Greenpeace activists in the Philippines," he said.

According to Greenpeace, the Masinloc power plant, which is up for expansion, "displays the very worst excesses of the Philippine and Asian coal industry."

It said the power plant’s environmental impact has never been publicly scrutinized.

Despite this, funds from organizations such as the Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation are being earmarked for a 50-percent expansion of the plant’s power capacity at a time when there is a considerable controversy surrounding the financing of its privatization, Greenpeace said.