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Senate environment committee sets on-site probe of Hanjin high-rise
development Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
Chairperson Senator Pia Cayetano will lead an on-site inquiry on the
controversial construction of two high-rise condominiums in the
middle of the Subic Bay Freeport rainforest on April 25.
Cayetano said the public hearing will seek to
determine whether existing environmental laws and regulations were
violated when the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) allowed
South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction
Ltd. to put up two high-rise buildings for the housing of its staff
right inside the Subic Bay Watershed Forest Reserve.
The inquiry intends to come up with remedial
measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, she added.
The Subic Bay Freeport has a sprawling land area
of 13,600 hectares, why did the condominiums have to be built inside
a protected rainforest? The SBMA should explain.
“I hope the parties involved would be willing
to appear and answer all criticisms being raised about this project
at the Senate probe,” she added.
She noted that at least three crucial issues
would be tackled by the inquiry.
“First, we’d like to review the propriety,
or lack thereof, of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between DENR
and SBMA. This supposedly gave the latter full autonomy over matters
concerning the environment in Subic, including the 10,000-hectare
protected watershed.”
“Second, we’d like to look into the
Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued for the so-called
twin towers of Hanjin. Who were the people who approved it and what
was their basis? How were they able to reconcile their decision with
the project’s potential impact on the biological diversity and
productive capacity of the watershed? Are the mitigating measures
they recommended in the ECC sufficient, and are these being complied
with?”
“Third, we want to verify certain claims that
the coverage of the watershed had been vastly reduced from 10,000
hectares (as originally set aside by Proclamation No.926) to only
8,000 hectares, and whether this had a bearing in justifying the
construction of the condominiums inside a so-called ‘development
zone’ within the protected watershed.”
Among the resource persons to be invited include
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga
and Ecology Center Chief Amethya dela Llana-Koval, Hanjin President
Shim Jong Sup, Bantay Kalikasan Managing Director Gina Lopez,
environmentalist groups and local communities to be affected by the
project.
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