In a letter to the editor, Environment Secretary Gina Lopez stated: “Since I assumed office at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, it has been my position that the pursuit of industrial development should not compromise the environment and, most importantly, should not cause human suffering” (“Gina: Order was appropriate,” Opinion, 1/13/17).
The construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Sabangan, Mountain Province, has irrefutably compromised the environment especially the Chico River which runs 187 kilometers, more or less, downstream. It irrefutably aggravated the massive destruction of government and private property during typhoons “Ineng” and “Lawin.” It has irrefutably caused human suffering among indigenous peoples and farmers downstream the Chico River. Irrefutably, the effect of the damage to the environment will be felt in the next 35 years as our experience with the past Kairuz Logging Corporation and the Heald Lumber Logging Corporation tells us.
Madam Secretary, we have filed a complaint at the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) which you head. Our complaint is already more than one year old, but it has yet to be acted upon. Seemingly, the respondents to our complaint are trying their best to manipulate the PAB so that they will be made to pay a fine of less than a million pesos instead of the billions of pesos mandated by the Clean Water Act. The impact of the unguarded construction of the Sabangan hydroelectric power plant is so long and “devilish” to write here. I hope and pray that this letter is more than enough to wake up your office and immediately act on our complaint, though it is more than one year old now.
JUNIPER C. DOMINGUEZ, Sabangan, Mountain Province, dalas812571@yahoo.com