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MONDAY, 02 JULY 2012 21:48 MANUEL T. CAYON / REPORTER
DAVAO CITY—A party-list lawmaker has sought a congressional inquiry into the reported stockpiling of coal at Manila’s Port Area within the harbor property of businessman Reghis Romero.
Rep. Angelo Palmones of Agham, at the same time, requested clarification from the Supreme Court on the status of the writ of kalikasan, which it issued in 2008 but apparently has since been ignored by the party behind the stockpiling.
Palmones filed on Monday a bill seeking the investigation.
On Friday in Kabacan, North Cotabato province in Mindanao, he learned about the reported stockpiling of the coal in Manila’s Port Area. He was in the province to join a group in witnessing the field-testing of the genetically modified eggplant at the demonstration farm of the University of Southern Mindanao.
“Bakit nila ito pinayagan [Why did they allow the stockpiling of the coal]?” Palmones asked, alluding to government agencies that apparently did not act on reports that coal was being stockpiled beyond the legally allowable volume.
He said he has repeatedly prodded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to act on it, but also apparently to no avail.
Palmones has filed a writ of kalikasan on a mining operation in Zambales. The writ is a court action to compel both the operator and the national and local government regulatory agencies to explain their action or inaction on an issue concerning the environment. Kalikasan is Filipino for “nature.”
“It is tedious and needs money, too, to file a writ of kalikasan,” he said, when asked if he would file a third writ on the coal issue.
In a letter dated July 1 and sent to Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, also chairman of Manila Bay Advisory Committee (MBAC), Palmones said that while the stockpiling of the coal was a “proof enough” of violation of the Constitution, “more so, it runs counter to the writ of continuing mandamus issued by the Supreme Court for the rehabilitation and protection of the waters of Manila Bay.”
“With the onset of the rainy season and its continued exposure to moisture, the stockpile of coal is clearly now a bigger fire hazard. And if safety measures, mitigating mechanisms and protocols are not in place, it’s an accident waiting to happen,” he added in the letter to Velasco.
Palmones urged MBAC to ensure that the stockpiling of the coal be “stopped immediately by the DENR’s [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] issuance of a cease-and-desist order to HCPTI [Harbor Center Port Terminal Inc.] and R-II Builders, as property manager of Manila Harbour Centre,” Palmontes said in the letter.
He has written separate letters, also dated July 1 and sent to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje Jr., Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II, through Philippine Ports Authority Administrator Juan Santa Ana, and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, through Director Rolando Bandilla Jr., chief fire marshall of the national headquarters of the Bureau of Fire Protection.
The letters said the coal stockpiled by HCPTI is a fire hazard.
“Let us act in the best interest of the people and for the protection of the waters of Manila Bay,” they read.
It was learned that HCPTI does have a DENR permit to store 40 metric tons of coal “but the coal stored…is beyond 40 metric tons.”
Also, [the] “DENR was not informed and neither was it aware that [HCPTI] will store coal within its premises and distribute it when it applied for an ECC [environmental compliance certificate].”
It was also learned that “the ECC of [HCPTI] does not include coal stockpiling and distribution in the area.” source
In Photo: Google photo shows the Manila Harbour Centre and two 10-hectare facilities filled with black coals (indicated by arrows)
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