Energy dept. push for coal mining denounced

Manila Times.net

COTABATO CITY: Two nongovernment organizations based in South Cota¬¬bato’s Lake Sebu town have accused the Department of Energy of allegedly persuading the people of Min¬danao to support the construction of coal-fired facilities in the area under the guise of providing them with a stable and reliable supply of energy.

Datu Victor Danyan, chairman of the T’boli-Manobo S’daf Claimant Organization (TAMASCO), lambasted Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras for trying to convince the people of Lake Sebu to allow such activities.

“The government has never run out of propaganda just to cuddle multinational companies and siphon huge [amounts of] money,’ Danyan charged.

According to the chairman, “The Secretary is [trying to persuade us to think] that the current energy reserves are thinning.”

“This scenario is orchestrated [in order] to condition the mind¬set of the people that there is no other way [to secure] stable energy in the country but to accept the environmentally destructive coal-fired projects,” he said.

Hublag Kontra Mina (HUKOM) member Yellen Zata, meanwhile, scoffed at the Energy chief’s claim of on-site rehabilitation, citing the current state of the test pit mines in Sitio Tafal—also located in Lake Sebu’s Barangay Ned—as a glaring example.

“Tell us, Mr. Secretary: How [can] the damaged site be brought back to its original form? Even the test pit mines in Sitio Tafal were left open and wasted,” she said.

“I [don’t know of] any mining area in the world that was restored to its original form. The mining companies’ definition of rehabilitation—which is just to plant trees—extremely contradicts the declaration of Sec. Almendras.” Zata added.

Both groups have opposed coal mining and coal-fired power plants following the entry of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) into the area.

Danyan said that the SMC, through its subsidiary San Miguel Energy, acquired Daguma Agro Minerals Inc., its sister-company Bonanza Energy Resources Inc., and Sultan Mining and Energy Development Corp.so that they could hold contracts for coal production, development and operations in an estimated 17,000-hectare, coal-rich mining area in Barangay Ned.

He added that the construction of coal plants in the Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) bio-region will only serve the interest of mining companies, adding that these don’t care about the negative effects on people in the area, whose health and livelihood are badly affected.
According to the South Cota¬bato-based environmental group Socsksargen Climate Action Now, coal-fired power plants have “significantly” made negative contributions to climate change because of its emission of massive carbon dioxide and greenhouses gases like methane, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

At least three coal-fired power plants will be constructed in Southern Mindanao, the organization said.

Both TAMASCO and HUKOM have called on the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to “redeliberate its neoliberal energy security framework” without compromising the lifeblood of indigenous peoples and people in the upland communities.

Danyan said that the Aquino government should demonstrate that it has a genuine respect on the rights of the indigenous people to their territories.

“We, the group of indigenous people is finally challenging [Aquino] to push for energy sovereignty that would give people the freedom to resolve for a sustainable energy generation, distribution and consumption,” he said.JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL