Probe team: Clearing of site has no permit

DANAO, BOHOL, Philippines  — The proponents of the hydro power plant in Barangay Cabatuan of this town failed to show proof they have the necessary documents to support their initial activities of removing earth materials and road widening leading to the project site.

This was one of the initial findings of the team investigating the proposed project, covering 53 hectares that included Cantacoy Falls and the long and winding Wahig River traversing this town.

The probe team consisted of forester Nestor Canda of the DENR, Leonilo Lafuente of the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO), lawyers John Mitchell Boiser and Peter Mende of the Provincial Legal Office, lawyer Raul Barbarona of the Environmental Law Assistance Center (ELAC) and Mario Limocon of the PROCESS, a non-government organization.

The team’s inspection was also attended by Danao Mayor Tom Gonzaga, project manager John Jorge Orbe and hydrologist Fred Donato representing the Quadriver Energy Corp., and project manager Lydio Ranon for the Sta. Clara International Corp. (SCIC), the project contractor.

Sta. Clara Power Corp., headed by Engr. Asisclo Gonzaga, and Ayala Corp. have formed what is now the Quadriver Energy Corp that is running the project with SCIC, said Ranon and Orbe to the probe team.

The probe was ordered by Governor Edgar Chatto in his memorandum issued last April 23 as an offshoot of two Provincial Board resolutions filed by PB Members Josephine Socorro Jumamoy and Romulo Cepedoza.

Cepedoza and Jumamoy assailed the failure of the hydro project proponents to consult the stakeholders of the town over health and environment concerns.

Lafuente said that even if the initial activities, such as laying down the project’s batching and crushing groundwork, are for clearing of earth materials or road widening purposes, the proponent still has to secure the permits to do these, following provincial laws.

Based on the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) No. RO7-0903-018-0120 (issued to the proponent by the EMB and signed by OIC regional director Rolando Luego), the project should not proceed without first securing “applicable permits from other pertinent government agencies.”

Lafuente said the ECC becomes valid only after these requirements are complied with before the project is started, the project shall further conform with other national laws, such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Program Act, among others, he said.

Canda added that even with this ECC, the proponent is still required to obtain an ECC separately for every setting up and operations of the batching and crushing plants, as required by law.

In a conference, project officials did not answer categorically on the question of the conduct of preparation before clearing areas for their offices, motorpool and crushing plants at the barangay.

The inspection, several meters up from the Cantakoy Falls, showed some vegetation and several coconut and trees were cleared for the widening of the road to the site. A hill where the boundary marker was buried was already side-cut but was not however leveled off as alleged by the PB members.

Canda said the proponents could not deface the border marker because it was the basis of the boundaries between Danao and Inabanga towns, and the reference for measuring the area of the proposed project.

Jumamoy learned that the project cost is about P1.3 billion and, based on the original plan, it is expected to generate power of 5.2 megawatts. The project includes the development and operation of a hydro plant with 30-m high water dam as impounding facility, access road to the power plant and 24/69KV step-up transformers in the open air. (FREEMAN)