Romero’s private port faces closure over coal stockpile

business mirror

TUESDAY, 17 JULY 2012 20:45 JONATHAN L. MAYUGA / REPORTER

Manila Harbour Centre and Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI), both owned by businessman Reghis Romero, has one week left to comply with an order issued by the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) in connection with their coal operation along Manila Bay.

Carlo Religioso, chief of staff of Secretary Nerius Acosta, presidential adviser on environmental protection and concurrent administrator of the LLDA, said two demand letters were sent last week to private port operators, particularly Romero’s companies, ordering them to transfer their stockpiles of coal to a more confined area to prevent water runoffs in the event of rain.

Religioso, also the LLDA’s Enforcement Division chief, said the demand letters were equivalent to a unilateral (ex-parte) order from the agency giving all private port operators 15 days to comply,  “or the LLDA will close down their facilities.”

The LLDA wants the private port operators to transfer their stockpiles of coal to proper storage facilities—with roof and bund wall —to prevent water runoffs that would pollute the air and water in Manila Bay. 

The coal operations of private ports, particularly Romero’s companies, were exposed by Party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones of Agham, who initiated a congressional inquiry into them.

According to Palmones, these private ports have no proper storage facilities and equipment for coal operations, in violation of the continuing order issued by the Supreme Court for government agencies to clean up and rehabilitate the historic Manila Bay.

Earlier, Palmones told DWIZ, the BusinessMirror’s sister company, that Romero’s coal stockpiles are now being secretly transferred to Bataan, which is also within Manila Bay.

And he wants to know whether such transfer was allowed. The transfer, it was learned, was precipitated by a demand of the Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC), which owns the property where Romero’s coal has been stockpiled.

Religioso said the transport of coal was beyond the LLDA’s jurisdiction and pointed to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR). BusinessMirror’s effort to interview EMB chief Roberto Sheen failed. 

In a text message yesterday, Sheen said he was engaged in a series of lectures at Jade Valley.

Religioso also said a joint consultation meeting called by the LLDA and the DENR-EMB with private port operators was scheduled to be held on Wednesday in Vitas, Tondo, Manila.

Religioso and Sheen have already issued invitations to all private port operators, including concerned officials of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).

The joint consultation, he said, aims to open communication channels between the PPA, the private port operators, and the DENR, through the EMB and the LLDA, concerning the stockpiling of coal along Manila Bay.

“We also want to know the progress of the private port operators’ upgrading of their facilities,” he said.

Another public hearing will allow the private ports to explain their side on the issue of coal pollution.  The public hearing is scheduled on July 26 and 27, according to Religioso. 

“The burden of proof is on them.  They need to convince us now that their coal operation is not polluting the waters of Manila Bay,” Religioso said.   source