THE proposed establishment of a cement manufacturing plant, pier and quarry site in the southern town of Sibonga has drawn the ire of environment advocate groups.
The Unifying Sectoral Responses on Environmental Protocols in Sibonga (USREPS), in a press statement, expressed its strong opposition to the plans of proponent Bayan Cement Resources Corp. (BCRC) due to the projects’ possible impact on the environment.
In its June 4, 2023 statement, USREPS argued that different environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) are required for each environmental critical project (ECP) and these ECCs should undergo different environmental assessment processes.
Fe Abiera, USREPS vice chairman, said BCRC’s ECC issued in the year 2007 expired in 2012, which is five years after its issuance, hence BCRC is using a 15-year-old ECC.
On the issue of an expired ECC, BCRC technical engineer Lysa Inot-Saramosing said the company applied for a motion for reconsideration and it was granted in 2020.
Saramosing said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) issued another ECC, allowing the company to proceed to the next stage of project planning.
Venice Cyrus Rebadomia, Bayan Cement’s corporate legal counsel, said without the approval of the stakeholders including the residents, the project could not move forward, but the company has already begun some minor clearing operations so that its ECC will not be revoked.
Abiera said local officials are too focused on development aggression, without even looking at the areas that will be affected.
USREPS emphasized that in a world consistently threatened by climate change, disaster and vulnerability indicators should not be undermined.
Regarding the pier alone, Abiera said she would not buy their justifications that the pier is designed not to damage supposed DENR protected areas due to mangroves.
Abiera asked the DENR representative whether the same ECC would be used for cement manufacturing, the quarry and the pier, or whether there will be another port documentary requirement, positing that there should be a separate permit for different projects.
The DENR representative told Aberia that the ECC will be one of the requirements in acquiring a permit, and that part of the requirements will be from the local government unit and an endorsement from the barangay.
USREPS also argued that it is economically disastrous to focus all resources on one industry at the expense of other thriving livelihoods such as fisheries and farming.
With that, USREPS urged the residents of Sibonga to think for their own environment.
BCPC also held a public hearing with Barangay Sabang residents on the same projects on June 19, 2022, during which BCPC representatives placed the projects’ cost at P10 billion to P15 billion and said the cement plant project would also affect portions of Barangays Mangyan and Candaguit.
The cement plant area is expected to be 16 hectares including the crushing plant in Barangay Sabang. The total mining area is 410.47 hectares in the three barangays, while the pier to be located in Barangay Sabang will be 2.2 hectares. (AML)