Infant killed by coal plant stench

Sunstar Iloilo

A FOUL odor reportedly emanating from a coal-fired power plant in the village of Ingore in La Paz district in Iloilo City has claimed the life of a six-month-old infant.

Village chief Ernie Poral confirmed the death of six-month-old Jared Stephan Barrientos at a public inquiry of the committee on environment of the Iloilo City Council on Tuesday.

Poral said the baby died while undergoing treatment at the West Visayas State University Medical Center in Jaro district.

The village official said residents in the village had complained of the foul odor since Sept. 11.

Panay Energy Development Corp (PEDC), owner of the first coal-fed power plant in Western Visayas, confirmed that it conducted a fire test of the completed 82 megawatts coal-fed power plant last Sept. 11 to 16.

Poral said 35 people, including five children, had fallen ill since the test started. He said it also affected residents at the nearby villages of Ticud, Banuyao and Hinactacan, all in La Paz district.

Engineer Henry Alcalde, deputy general manager of PEDC, said in the same hearing that they never anticipated the odor emission.

Environment committee chair David Jamora said the PEDC and Global Power Corp. had failed to inform the City Government about the fire testing.

He said the multi-tripartite monitoring team only knew about it when the affected residents started complaining about the foul stench from the plant.

The PEDC is still conducting its in-house probe as to the cause of the odor.

Monitoring team member Virgilio Cambronero of the Environment Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the power plant has not violated its Environmental Clearance Certificate but only certain provisions of the Clean Air Act.

PEDC said it is willing to extend financial help to the affected families after verification of their legitimate claims for damages. (Lydia C. Pendon)