DENR urged: Stop Hedcor until folks’ demands met; land payments questioned

  

By Gina Dizon

SABANGAN, Mountain Province – A petition was lodged with the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources for a  cease and desist order  of operations of the Hedcor hydroelectric plant here until demands of local folks are met.

Resident environmentalist Juniper Dominguez petitioned the DENR also asking why  rental fees of  Hedcor’s 14 megawatt hydro energy plant here were being paid to DENR instead at Sabangan where the plant is located.

This as rental fees of P87,030.90 for three years 2012 to 2015 representing special land use permit  (SLUP) covering 8.7 hectares was paid by Hedcor to DENR .

The SLUP was computed on the basis of 3% of the land and 1% of the value of improvements introduced in the area.  

Hedcor’s Sabangan hydro electric plant costs P2 billion.

In his petition,  Dominguez asked why Hedcor was  paying rent to the DENR when land utilized by Hedcor was part of the Sabangan ancestral domain owned by the indigenous peoples of the town.

Sabangan with its 15 barangays  cover 7,204 hectares.

Hedcor’s 14 megawatt hydro plant began generation operations in 2015 and activities on the establishment of its energy plant in 2012 covering two barangays Napua and Namatec where the diversion dam and turbines are located respectively. Other nine barangays Supang, Poblacion, Bus, Kapinitan, Gayang,Camatagan,Pingad, Baoangan, and Lusad locates transmission lines of the energy line aside from barangay Otukan of adjoining Bauko municipality. 

The run-of-river hydropower project aims to produce over 50 million kWhs of  clean energy annually.        Dominguez in his petition asks for a cease and desist order  of the operations of the Sabangan Hedcor hydro electric plant to temporarily stop unless and until demands are met.

He urged a resume order  be issued when  Hedcor  has done a survey  to be conducted by the DENR  to  determine the actual area being utilized by said Sabangan hydroelectric power  plant from sitio Duskit, Sabangan  to barangay Otukan of  Bauko in coordination  with the indigenous  peoples mandatory representatives (IPMR) of the 15 barangays of Sabangan, the local government unit of Sabangan  and concerned  stakeholders.

He said the SLUP should not be renewed until a memorandum of agreement is executed by the concerned IPs and Hedcor Sabangan.

Dominguez  petitioned that a promissory note  be issued by  Hedcor  to restore  environment  damage its construction activities  has caused the  Chico river.

An Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) was issued by DENR in favor of Hedcor Sabangan October of 2011; and a special land use permit  issued by same government office  March of 2013 for barangays Napua and Namatec only.

Meantime, it was  known from the treasury office of Sabangan that the 40% share of Sabangan municipality from national wealth taxes of Hedcor operating in their jurisdiction has not yet been received by said office.

Hedcor Sabangan Incorporated has its business address at Beckel, La Trinidad. Benguet

Companies pay their taxes in the locality where the address of their firm  is located as per Philippine law.