Windfarm proj stalled due to lack of meetings
>> Tuesday, April 16, 2013
By Gina
Dizon
SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Series
of general assembly on the proposed Sagada-Besao windfarm
was postponed by National Commission on Indigenous Peoples regional director Sancho Boquing following a letter asking
for postponement from nearly a hundred signatories from
central and northern Sagada.
Second general assemblies scheduled by NCIP
were supposed to be held April 8 in northern Sagada, April 9 in central Besao
and April 10 to 11 in Agawa, Besao.
A memorandum issued by NCIP Regional Director Sancho Boquing to NCIP provincial director Tomas Tawagen suspended the
second general assembly from April second week to May 20-23.
Affected folks’ letter to Boquing copy
furnished local government units of Besao and Sagada
and the regional office of the NCIP specially asked for
sufficient time of at least a minimum of 90 days to allow the
necessary information to reach affected folks of
northern and central Sagada and western and central Besao
before the second general assemblies shall be conducted in
affected areas.
Some documents necessary for the community to
be informed and decide on whether to allow the 15
megawatt windfarm be installed on the Pilaw-Langsayan watershed, were not
made available to the public to cite a work and financial plan of
proponent Philcarbon, land use permit, environmental impact study
and the supposed environmental compliance certificate issued by
DENR.
NCIP guidelines on securing free prior and
informed consent (FPIC) of affected communities provide for the “full
disclosure of records and information relevant to the plan, program, project or
activity that would allow the community full access to records, documents,
material information and facilities pertinent to the same.”
Same new guidelines issued 2012 also provide
for the “submission by the applicant of an Environmental and Socio-cultural
Impact Statement, detailing all the possible impact of the plan, program,
project or activity upon the ecological, economic, social and cultural aspect
of the community as a whole.
Such document shall clearly indicate how
adverse effects may be avoided, mitigated and/or addressed.”
Village folks however said relevant and
necessary information should be made available to the public to
allow them sufficient time to study the documents before the
scheduled second general assemblies to enable understanding
and facilitation of questions by affected communities.
While this is so, adverse effects of
the windfarm has not yet been answered by Philcarbon
specially that on the effects on water sources much as
domestic and irrigation water is practically sourced from the
critical Pilaw-Langsayan watershed.
The top question that people from Besao and
Sagada ask and want to know the answer is the effect of windmills on
springs and the watershed. And for a wind farm which has not yet been
erected on any watershed in the country apart from windmills
getting protested in other countries proposed for construction on a
watershed, the exploratory Sagada-Besaowindfarm project continues to
receive questions from residents.
1 comments:
"Supposed" issuance of an ECC. I can tell you the ECC does exist and was issued on November 29, 2012.
It was signed by:
Oscar C. Cabanayen, CESO IV
OIC Regional Director
EMB, DENR
And cosigned by:
Nestor M. Donaal
OIC - Chief - EIAM Division
--
How did this ECC get approved? It does exist. Perhaps the ECC should be distributed from the NCIP office, or at least posted in public for all to see that this project is most likely has all of the legal paperwork complete - they just need to sell the people to get their consent...
So the company can rake in millions upon millions of US dollars per year, tax free, on your mountain resources.
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