HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon
SABANGAN, Mountain Province -- The spilling of soil and
other spoils along the Chico River brought about by construction of roads and
cutting of trees by Hedcor got the ire of former Sabangan mayor Jupiter
Dominguez who called for temporary stop of Hedcor‘s construction of its 14
megawatt minihydro here pending construction of structures to prevent soil
erosion.
The Sabangan minihydro plant with its 3.2
kilometer long headrace from the intake weir to
the powerhouse is a run-of-river hydropower plant that will generate power
from the waters of the Chico River to over 55 million kilowatt-hours of
renewable energy annually.
Hedcor is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aboitiz
Power Corporation.
And it will be judgment day for Hedcor on Feb. 11 if the
local government would reocomment a stop to project works pending mitigation
measures to be done by the company.
In a meeting here with Hedcor, officials
of the local government unit of Sabangan and barangays Napua and
Namatec and residents Jan. 23, it was noted that spoils from earth
movements should be hauled to an engineered disposal area to serve as a dumping
site to prevent environmental destruction on project site and nearby
areas.
The Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)
issued by DENR October 2011 calls for the construction of a disposal area to be
developed prior to road constructions and other earth movements. The
project implements development of existing and construction of access roads to
project site.
The ECC provides that “earth and other
construction spoils, solid wastes and other form of wastes shall be prevented
from deposition to and along the course of the Chico River and other
environmental sensitive areas.”
Dominguez said construction of permanent structures along
the slopes near the Chico River is necessary before the rainy season comes to
prevent erosion and siltation on the river.
Engineer Raffy Macabiog, Hedcor’s engineering
supervisor of the minihydro project located at Namatec and Napua said spoils
shall be cleared before Feb. 5 and other corrective measures done by end of
February.
He also said erosion control measures had been in place to
mention sandbagging and rock armouring.
Dominguez, an engineer by profession however said
sandbagging and rock armouring are not durable enough to withstand erosion.
It was noted that the ECC-provided multipartite
monitoring team (MMT) composed of Department of Environment and
Natural Resources - Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) and local
leaders of Sabangan and Mountain Province, and representatives from Hedcor
apparently did not do their functions.
Following the Jan. 23 meeting, a separate and
independent municipal monitoring team composed of representatives from the
private sector, church, media and the LGU to meet on regular schedules was
created by Sabangan Mayor Donato Danglose to monitor implementation of the
project based on ECC guidelines and free prior and informed consent
(FPIC)-memorandum of agreement issued by the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples.
Earlier, Ceasar Bulagsay of the Napua United Guides
Association reported damages caused by road construction at Napua especially
along the route leading to Nanbayo Falls route.
The report reaching the Municipal Tourism Council and
the Municipal Solid Waste Management Council of
Sabangan moved mayor Danglose to form an investigation team
headed by Sangguniang Bayan councillor Fausto Ballakis to validate
the report and do immediate inspection of the construction
site and reported damages.
Danglose further issued a letter to Hedcor
expressing concern on environmental damages further demanding Hedcor to show
cause why a cease and desist order shall not be issued to violations of the
FPIC-MOA and the ECC.
The FPIC-MOA with the indigenous peoples of
Napua and Namatec covering the Tinmakudo ancestral domain issued February 2011
called on Hedcor “to prevent, mitigate or avoid disastrous ecological damages
within the project area brought about by the construction of the hydro power
plant.”
The 25-year memorandum of agreement
between HEDCOR and the Sabangan local government unit calls on
Hedcor to initiate measures “to protect and preserve the forest and water
resources within the territorial jurisdiction of the municipality”. Ground
breaking of the 14 megawatt mini hydro was observed June 18, 2013.
Earlier Fausto Ballakis and Ernesto Bondad, both municipal
councilors of this town, chairman and member of the just formed Sabangan
Community Monitoring Team (SCMT), said that SCMT scheduled their site
inspection on Feb. 11 and will be submitting their recommendation to the mayor
if suspension will be issued to the work operation or not.
Danglose called for a special meeting with Hedcor Jan. 23 to
tackle issues regarding their alleged violations on the FPIC-MOA and ECC in
constructing the mini-hydro power project at barangays Namatec and Napua.
During the meeting, Hedcor and the local government unit
arrived at a compromise wherein the local government unit will not suspend the
project due to alleged violations and Hedcor must work the soonest possible
time to address the complaints. However it will be monitored by the just formed
SCMT which will make their recommendation to the municipal mayor.
“It will be up then to our report if SCMT finds that Hedcor
is really making efforts to address the alleged violations if it’s okay but if
not then SCMT will make their recommendation for suspension of work until the
alleged violations will be properly addressed,” Bondad added.
Last year, a lot of verbal complaints reached the office of
the mayor regarding violations of the contractor on the implementation of the
mini-hydro power project.
Said complaints were brought out during the meeting and this
time were accompanied by a lot of pictures. These were however denied by Hedcor
and their contractor, Santa Clara Intn’l Corporation,
The mayor relayed to them that soil and fallen cut trees
were not being properly placed in the designated disposal areas.
But again the people near the project site insisted that Hedcor
and Santa Clara personnel were lying.
This prompted the mayor to request the SB committee on environment to validate
said complaints.
Last Dec. 23, 2013, the committee came up with a validation
report but was only transmitted to the office of the mayor last Jan. 6,.
Said validation report said complaints were meritorious and
recommended issuance of cease and desist order on the project.
Last Jan. 9, the mayor issued a letter to Hedcor with
pictures and the validation report attached demanding Hedcor to show cause
within seven days or a cease and desist order will be issued for the project.
Hedcor submitted their reply last Jan. 16 relaying their
explanation to the issues raised saying that they will comply and in fact have
started to address the issues.
The mayor then called for a meeting with Hedcor and Santa
Clara last Jan. 23, 2014 in the presence of barangay and municipal officials,
and other sectors and agencies.
During the meeting, Hedcor representatives using a power
point explained they have already cleaned the cut trees and were working on the
earth spoils using sand bags and rock armoring method.
PENRO Manny Pogeyed said what they just presented can
warrant the cancellation of their Environmental Compliance Certificate.
Atty. Kalangeg, legal officer of NCIP, reminded those
present on provisions of the Free prior Informed Concent-Memorandum of
Agreement (FPIC-MOA).
He talked more on employment of the host community and
sub-contracting of local contractors in the area as provided in said FPIC-MOA.
For his part, councilor Ernesto Bondad, narrated dilemma of
the people of Sabangan during the presence of Kairuz Lumber operating in the
very site of the project.
Together with Ireneo Pilacan, punong barangay of Poblacion,
they explained that the salary being offered by Santa Clara, though complying
with the minimum standard pegged by DOLE which is 263 pesos, was too low
compared to existing minimum wage in the
community which is P300 with free lunch and two snacks. – With reports from Gabriel T. Moguet
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