RESIDENTS of Kesbeng in La Trinidad, Benguet have raised alarm over blasting activities in connection with the civil works conducted by a hydropower technology contractor in the Balili River.
The United Neighborhood Association of Kesbeng stated the physical security of the neighborhood is threatened by the company’s activities, which started just this year.
"Some of the residents work at home and the disturbance caused by the blasting is effecting their livelihood," the group said in a letter.
“We noticed that the blasting happens as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 6 p.m. regardless of whether it is a weekday or weekend. There was an instance earlier this year when were three successive blasts and the vibration they caused was strong enough to cause cracks on some of our neighbor’s homes,” the letter added.
In February, the group requested the company to use a less disruptive blasting method.
Chris Faelnar, Aboitiz Power senior vice president for business, communities and government relations, stated the civil works are being carried out by their contractor, Whessoe, in Barangays Bineng, Alno and Alapang.
The construction of the facility in the Benguet capital town started in December 2017.
The facility is for Hedcor Inc., a subsidiary of Aboitiz which owns and manages 21- run-of-river hydropower plants in the country with a total capacity of 245 megawatts (MW) of clean and renewable energy including the 19-MW La Trinidad Hydro.
The 19 megawatt run-of-river hydropower technology is expected to generate 62 million kilowatt-hours annually, utilizing the Balili River.
The project is targeted to be completed by June 2019.
Faelnar said the contractors are mandated to sound the siren as a warning before blasting.
“We’ve mandated our contractors to sound the siren as a warning before blasting, we’ve also strictly monitored the timing of each blasting activity which shall not be earlier than 9am and not later than 4 p.m.,” Faelnar said in a press statement.
The company added the La Trinidad Hydro went through the Engineering Geological and Geohazard Assessment by the Department of Natural Resources as part of requirement before an Environmental Compliance Certificate is issued.
To date, the project is 40-percent complete.
Barangay Captain Jonie Puyoc meanwhile said they have yet to receive complaints from the residents on the blasting.