By: Nestor P. Burgos Jr. 02:32 AM September 30th,
2016
ILOILO CITY—A ranking regional
environment official has made himself scarce amid reports that he is being
investigated for allegedly leaking results of an audit that favored a coal
mining company.
Lawyer Jonathan Bulos, Western
Visayas director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), refused to
answer calls and text messages from reporters.
Bulos, who is usually accessible to
reporters, is being investigated by Environment Secretary Gina Lopez for giving
a copy of audit results to Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) that
purportedly concluded that SMPC had complied with environmental laws and found
its proposal to expand a coal mining pit “technically sound.”
Audit results
An Inquirer report quoted Lopez as
saying she was shocked and angry that results of the audit were given to SMPC.
SMPC cited the report of the EMB, an
agency under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in a
disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Protocol violated
Lopez was quoted as saying that
Bulos’ actions violated protocol and had put the credibility of the report on
SMPC in “serious doubt.”
SMPC has been operating one of the
biggest coal mines in Asia on Semirara Island in Caluya town in Antique since
1999 after it took over the then government-owned Semirara Coal Corp. (SCC).
The company employs nearly 3,000
workers and supplies at least 96 percent of locally produced coal.
SMPC started to operate on the
Panian pit in Barangay Semirara in 1999 after the Unong mining pit, located in
Barangay Tinogbok, was closed down in 1998. The Unong pit used to be operated
by SCC.
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