Political hype, not factual revelation
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:14:00 05/13/2008
“Horrific treetop condos in Subic forest, a monument to deceit”? (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 4/6/08)
All natural ecosystems, including the Subic watershed, are complex. That’s why proposed projects that can impact on the ecosystem are required to have an exhaustive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), so that an independent technical review team can recommend mitigation measures that would allow the project to merit an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) with conditions that must be enforced. Former secretaries of environment Angel Alcala and Mike Defensor both signed agreements with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) allowing the latter to exercise environmental self-regulation by having its Ecology Center perform the EIS on projects under SBMA jurisdiction.
“It’s horrific! 75 percent of our rainforest has disappeared. This same thing is happening here,” an environmental NGO head said.
“An ammunitions and explosive testing area, warehouses and bunkhouses used to stand in that area. There were no trees anymore,” Sen. Richard Gordon, a former SBMA chief, described the area’s nearly 50 years’ use by the US Navy, thus correcting the emotional hype that the condos were built in the middle of the rainforest after cutting forest trees.
But the good senator, usually sober, spoiled his factual revelation by going into political hype, defending SBMA head Armand Arreza and laying the blame on Ecology Center chief, Ameth Kovak who, he said, is unqualified to hold the post and was a “political” appointee of former SBMA chief Felicito Payumo. It may be recalled that Gordon doggedly resisted Payumo’s takeover of SBMA. Ms Kovak has been retained in her position by four SBMA chiefs who came after Gordon.
We, the undersigned environmental movement leaders, deplore the liberal use of emotional and political hype instead of 100-percent facts in this issue. The cold light of knowledge, not the heat of such hype, is needed to protect, conserve and preserve our beautiful and rich natural resources.
We recommend that incumbent Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza amend the provision on SBMA’s environmental “autonomy” to allow oversight review by the Region III director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, who chairs the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) of Bataan National Park where the 8,000-ha Subic watershed is located in Morong. For starters, the PAMB should constitute a Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) to ensure ECC compliance by Hanjin, the condo builders, considering that the condos’ three-hectare site is only two kilometers away from the core of the forest. Note that Hanjin started the construction activities before it got the ECC.
ROGER C. BIROSEL, ROLANDO SONCUYA, YOYONG MAGDARAOG, KAREN TAÑADA
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