Posted by Christine F. Herrera
ENVIRONMENT officials on Friday defended businessman Reghis Romero, whose company has been stockpiling “mountains of coal” beside Manila Bay, and said he violated the terms of his environment compliance certificate only because the government had made a typographical error in the document.
It’s coal, okay? The Environment Department says the coal stockpile is only a hill, but it should be a mountain. The stockpile shown here is said to be 40 metric tons, but it should be 40,000 metric tons.
Environment Management Bureau Director Roberto Sheen confirmed a Manila Standard story documenting the stockpiles, but insisted that Romero was authorized to store the coal near the bay.
“We went to the Manila Harbour Center Port Terminal and confirmed the presence of the coal stockpiles,” Sheen told the Manila Standard.
“But the port terminal is allowed to do so. We found out that it was us that made a mistake and committed a typographical error in the environment compliance certificate.”
Sheen said the typographical error in the ECC showed Romero was only allowed to stockpile 40 metric tons of coal.
“We have rectified the typographical error,” Sheen said.
“The 40 metric tons was a mistake. It should have been 40,000 metric tons.”
The explanation stumped Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones, who said Sheen’s statement was unbelievable.
“What kind of an excuse is that? Is that how desperate they are to cover up and coddle violators of environmental laws, by simply declaring a violation as a mere typographical error and conveniently rectifying it by a mere Snopake?” Palmones said.
Palmones and Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaigner Anna Abad demanded a probe and the suspension of Romero’s coal stockpiling operations until those responsible for violating a Supreme Court writ protecting the bay are penalized and safety measures were put in place.
On Thursday, the Manila Standard published photos of the mountains of coal sitting by the bay inside the 10-hectare Harbour Center Port Terminal. Some of the shots were taken as recently as three days ago.
But Sheen refused to answer any more questions about the stockpiling, saying he had to submit his report and findings first to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje before he could disclose them to the Manila Standard.
Palmones said Romero’s ECC did not explicitly state that he was allowed to store coal in the 10-hectare port terminal.
The ECC, Palmones said, only allowed “general cargo.”
“It is only Romero’s own interpretation that coal is included in the term ‘general cargo.’ The law requires all activities with potential adverse impact to the environment to be expressly allowed under the ECC, otherwise it is prohibited,” Palmones said.
“There was no mention anywhere in the ECC of a ‘coal stockyard,’ so it means any stockpiling is not allowed. It is that simple.”
Palmones said he would not allow Romero to go scot-free by virtue of a “typographical error.”
“The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is mandated to protect the environment,” he said.
“But it looks like they wanted to be called the Department of Trade and Industry. So they are in trading now? The [Environment Department] must immediately suspend Romero’s operations until after mitigating and safety measures are put in place.”
Abad agreed and said Romero was exposing the public and the workers to health risks and Manila Bay to pollution.
She said Romero’s coal mountains were more than enough proof that the government wanted the country to be dependent on coal.
She said that under President Aquino, renewable energy projects were gathering dust while the government encouraged the use of coal. As a result, environmentalists had taken to calling Energy Secretary Rene Almendras “Coalmendras.”
Palmones and Abad demanded that Romero make public if he owned those coal stockpiles.
They also wanted to know if the coal was being used locally or if the country was just being used as a transit hub.
Palmones reiterated his demand that the President fire Paje and initiate a top-to-bottom revamp since his officials allowed Romero to violate the Supreme Court writ.
Energy officials, meanwhile, said Almendras had ordered the department’s Coal Division to investigate the reports about the mountains of coal at the Harbour Center Port Terminal.
Energy Assistant Secretary Ramon Oca said coal stockpiled at the port was not for power generation but for the use of small industries, and that the port was being used as a trans-shipment point for delivery to buyers.
He said the concerns about the coal had already been taken up during a meeting with the Manila city government and added that a new circular would strengthen the regulations on coal trading.
Manila 3rd District Councilor Joel Chua said the Environment Department had informed them that the Harbour Center Port Terminal had complied with environmental regulations.
“We were informed by the DENR that HCPTI was compliant. It has the required environment compliance certificate for its operations,” Chua told the Manila Standard. With Alena Mae Flores, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Lailany Gomez
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