LUCENA CITY—The Sangguniang Panglalawigan (SP) of Quezon on Monday assailed the continuous questionable foreshore construction of structures by the San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. (SBPL), a 500-megawatt coal-fired power project being put up inside an existing power facility in Barangay Cagsiay 1, Mauban, Quezon.
At the joint hearing of the SP Committees on Energy, Laws and Environment, SP members Donaldo Suarez, Ferdinand Talabong and Sonny Ubana, SP majority floor leader and chairman of the SP Committee on Ways and Means, respectively, took turns in questioning the SBPL on the alleged temporary structures being built beyond the shorelines, which they claimed has no permit.
“What is the basis of the temporary structures when you are encroaching on the sea already? Any construction on the sea, whether temporary or permanent, must have a basis,” said Ubana, who insisted that SBPL is using up a portion of the sea for its ongoing construction of structures.
Chuckie Rivera, community relations manager of the existing 440-MW Quezon Power Ltd. (QPL) coal-fired power plant and apparently the spokesman of SBPL, showed on the screen update on the construction, particularly photos of the structures being built as he claimed they are all covered by the Environmental Compliance Certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Rivera even offered to invite SP members to see the actual construction of the SBPL facilities at the shorelines to appease their anxieties, saying the structures are just temporary and to be removed once the construction of the seawater intake pipelines of the power plant is completed.
Frank Thiel, general manager of SBPL, narrated in brief about the start of the SBPL construction in 2016, the kind of power-generating facilities they are putting up and the safety measures they are adopting to protect the environment. Thiel and Rivera were accompanied to the SP committee hearing by two SBPL lawyers—Sheryl Balot and Rachelle Lim-Magtanggol.
Suarez, chairman of the SP Committee on Energy, asked why the DENR has not attended the hearing to explain about the SBPL shorelines construction and moved to hold the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the advance financial assistance being offered by the SBPL to the province allegedly amounting to P110 million.
“I move that the MOA on financial assistance be put aside and returned to the governor until after the issue of the SBPL shorelines construction is finally settled,” Suarez, an older brother of Gov. David C. Suarez, told participants of the hearing, which included board members Dominic Reyes, Rhodora Tan, Jerry Talaga and Jose Erwin Esguerra.
Suarez earlier questioned the “unusual” ownership of both QPL and SBPL and claimed the latter power-plant facility is a brand new entity being built inside the QPL. He also said that both power plants must ensure to have supercritical process of generating power to protect the environment of the host province.
Suarez and Ubana declined the offer to visit and see the actual construction of the facilities, saying this would compromise the SP as it seeks to get into the bottom of the issue.
The SP committee hearing ended up to call another joint committee hearing on August 7, and to invite the DENR to shed light on the controversial issue.
Later, in the afternoon regular session, the SP was in disarray for several minutes as several absent members during the joint committee hearing claimed they were not notified that the hearing was reset from 1 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. and they also stressed that it was an en banc committee hearing and not just a hearing of the three committees on energy, laws and environment.
SP member Hermilando Alcala Jr. asked why they were not informed of the reset of the joint committee hearing with his fellow board member from the second district, Elizabeth Sio. Another SP member, Aileen Buan of the province’s first district, also complained that she was not aware of the change of time, and insisted that the committee hearing was clearly set at 1 p.m.
Earlier QPL and SBPL invited last Saturday several media practitioners to the site of the foreshore construction and stressed the structures will be removed in July next year in preparation for its commercial operation scheduled in 2019.
“What we have here are just temporary structures for the construction of our intake pipelines, but they would be gone by July next year with the completion of the power project,” Rivera told the media led by Janet Buelo, public information officer of the provincial government.
Rivera said they don’t reclaim any land and that they have foreshore permits from the Philippine Ports Authority. He added that what they build is a causeway for intake pipelines of seawater for use in generating power.
The media were also shown the ongoing construction of other SBPL facilities, such as chimney erection, boiler area, pulverizer foundation and shoreline protection, among others.
Rivera presented informations about the QPL and SBPL and how they have benefited the province, town and host barangay, and what they are doing to integrate into the lives of the community through their community development programs on health, education, environment and livelihood.
He showed the QPL has paid real-property tax worth P3,457,673,989.98 from 1999 to 2016 to the provincial government, and P93,015,134.86 for first and second quarter of 2017. For the host municipality of Mauban, QPL has paid its mayor’s permit worth P1,264,677,531.55 from 1997 to 2017.