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By Ernie B. Esconde, Correspondent
BALANGA City, Bataan: Gov. Enrique “Tet”
Garcia on Friday strongly opposed the establishment of a plant that
will process toxic wastes at the former petrochemical park in
Limay-Mariveles area in Bataan.
The Bataan governor was reacting to information
shared by other speakers at forum on Non-Combustion Persistent
Organic Pollutants organized by Philippine National Oil
Company-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC).
Gracia lashed at the alleged lack of decorum of
planners of the project for not advising local and provincial
officials when it was hatched as early as 2001. Speakers from the
Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (EMB-DENR), the PNOC-AFC and the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (Unido) revealed the said plan
as conceived.
The UN body was said to be the implementing
agency and will be providing the funds for the establishment of the
facility that will operate the destruction of polychlo-rinated
biphenyls.
“I was surprised to hear about the project
that will destroy toxic wastes or persistent organic pollutants in
the country for the first time and the intention was to build it in
Bataan,” Garcia noted with apprehension.
He said that he had earlier rejected plans to
dump that garbage of Metro Manila in Bataan of garbage because the
province will no longer be remembered as “Libingan ng mga Bayani”
but as “Libingan ng mga Basura.”
“With this project, the province will be known
as ‘Libingan ng toxic waste,’ so we will never allow it, it will
be over our dead bodies,” he said underscoring his opposition.
Engr. Edwin Navaluna of the EMB-DENR and Stefani
Sano, PNOC-AFC park manager, both told Garcia that the project would
be provided with an environment compliance certificate.
“Even if you say this would be safe, it is
still better to export the toxic waste because we will not allow the
facility to operate in the province,” Garcia said.
Sano said they would consult with local
officials and try to convince the governor. He claimed that he got
hold of the project’s feasibility study some six months ago. “At
first, like the governor I did not like it but later I found out
that it would be of help in solving the country’s problem on
polychlorinated biphenyls contained equipment and wastes.”
The petrochem park manager said there are no
dangerous pollutants at the PNOC and the petrochemical park but
claimed that Bataan ranks as one of the areas in the country
throwing out dangerous pollutants. “Galing ito sa mga lumang
transformers ng mga power plants [these pollutants are from old
transformers in the power plants],” he said.
Leah Texon, Unido representative, said she could
not determine how much the share of Bataan is in the study in 2006
that the Philippines has 6,879 tons of polychlo-rinated biphenyls
found in equipment and wastes.
Asked if all the 6,879 tons will be processed in
the planned Bataan facility, she said that the project calls for the
destruction of 1,500 tons for the first two years. Texon said Bataan
was chosen because of the accessibility of the former petrochemical
park and that safety requirements in the area are already in place.
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