Environmentalists bewail delay in TRO vs Kanlaon tree-cutting

Environmentalists yesterday expressed fear that more trees would soon be cut within the buffer zone of the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park in Negros Occidental after a Bacolod City regional trial court failed to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) the other day and instead re-scheduled the hearing to Sept. 5.

The Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition was unsuccessful in securing the TRO in Tuesday’s hearing on its petition questioning the exploration of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) within the buffer zone of the dormant volcano, which has been declared a protected area.

RTC Branch 44 in Bacolod City ruled to reset the hearing to Sept. 5, as the defendants in the case said they have yet to receive the amended complaint filed by the coalition last July 31.

“No TRO means we should expect that the cutting of trees in Mt. Kanlaon would continue. So far, more than 1, 000 trees were already felled. We fear that all 4,213 trees that stand to be affected by the exploration of EDC will already be dead even before the TRO is issued,” Ed Balajadia of the Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition told The STAR.

“We are urging the EDC to stop the cutting of trees even without the TRO, if they are really concerned with the environment. This project is anti-environment and anti-sustainable development, and thus, must be stopped,” he added.

Negrenses and environmentalists raised suspicions over why the government and the EDC insist on the geothermal development project, even if the initial venture, they said, failed to deliver the projected geothermal energy.

They also argued that Negros Occidental is one of the best candidates for wind power utilization as it is located within the so-called wind map of the Philippines.

Manila-based Greenwatch Philippines Inc. said Negros is projected to deliver 90 to 120 megawatts of wind power, way above the baseline power requirement of the island.

The EDC started its geothermal exploration at the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park in 1987.