Bauko mayor pushes wider scope of ‘host communities’ for power projs

BAUKO,Mountain Province – Mayor Abraham B. Akilit urged the Department of Energy to redefine “host communities” to ensure beneficiaries of the one centavo per kilowatt hour it is collecting from power generation companies for the development of host communities will cover watershed areas and not only perimeters of power generation plants.

Energy Regulation No. 1, series of 1994 mandates all power generation companies to pay to the Department of Energy one centavo per kilowatt hour which will be exclusively used to bankroll the implementation of energy-related projects in host communities where the power plants are located.

“DOE officials should remember that the upland communities are the primary source of water running the turbines of our huge power generation plants in Benguet, Ifugao and Pangasinan, thus, we are supposed to be included in the beneficiaries of the implementation of energy-related projects, particularly the preservation and protection of our forests to sustain the supply of water,” Akilit said.

However, he added it is unfortunate that the billions of pesos collected from the enforcement of Energy Regulation No. 1, series of 1994 are only confined to energy-related projects that are situated within the vicinity of power generation facilities thereby depriving upland watershed areas which are supposed to be the rightful beneficiaries of such projects the chance to sustain environmental preservation and protection programs.

“The water of the Agno river running the turbines of the 105-megawatt Ambuclao dam in Bokod, the 125-megawatt Binga dam in Itogon and the 345-megawatt San Roque dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan and the 360 megawatt dam in Ifugao comes from Bauko, which is the watershed area of the said river systems,”Akilit added.

He said the DOE should prioritize the funding of watershed conservation projects of upland communities aside from the energy-related projects within the vicinity of power generation plants because it is the one that sustains the abundant water flowing into the river systems and running the turbines of hydroelectric plants. 

“We are now encountering serious problems on how to preserve and protect our remaining forest cover for the benefit of sustainable water supply for our river systems but we cannot do it alone. We need the utmost support of the DOE by allowing upland communities to access the available funds in order to implement reforestation and fencing of the remaining watershed areas to prevent unscrupulous individuals from ravaging the said virgin forests,”Akilit added.

The Mount Data National Park straddles Tublay, Benguet up to Bontoc, Mountain Province having a total land area of over 5,000 hectares with at least 25 percent forested which are mostly located in Bauko town.

By re-defining the term “host communities,” Akilit said, municipal government will be able to access funding support from the DOE to support the local government’s enhanced environmental preservation and protection program to sustain the abundant water supply flowing into the Chico, Agno, Magat and Agno rivers. He called on the DOE to immediately act on the matter before the watershed areas will be converted into commercial gardens leading to a depleted supply of water for the rivers. -- Dexter A. See