Editorial: Time to move on

IT CAME no surprise when the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao City gave its approval to the proposal of AboitizPower Corsporation to build a P25-billion coal-fired power plant in Barangay Binugao, Toril.

By way of an overwhelming vote of 23-1, the local lawmaking body approved the recommendation of the SP committee on energy, transportation and communication chaired by Councilor Pilar Braga to allow the establishment of the 300MW facility amid strong opposition from environmentalist groups. With the approval, the SP was standing firm on its position that a power crisis looms in Mindanao and that the only way to free Davao City from this predicament is to give a favorable approval to the project.

Even before the approval of Braga's committee report during the SP regular session last Tuesday, Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte had publicly expressed his consent for the Aboitiz power plant. He cited the importance of the project in media interviews and even had a clash of opinion early on with his daughter -- Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte -- on the issue.

But, with Duterte bent on realizing the project and the SP members giving their full support to the presiding officer, there was no way that oppositors could change the tide in their favor.

It was a fait accompli. The SP was really going to give its imprimatur on the coal-fired power plant no matter what and how the oppositors presented details that the plant is harmful to human lives and environment. It was a foregone conclusion, a reality bolstered by the fact that even the chair of the committee on environment, Councilor Marissa Salvador-Avella, voted in favor of the project.

Now that the SP members have spoken, it's now time to move on and leave this issue behind. After all, it is the job of the local lawmakers to determine whether a proposed project is beneficial to the city or not. The people of Davao can only hope that when the SP members made their decision they did it based on the merits of the issue at hand, with no ulterior motives involved.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on June 10, 2011.