CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO
About 30 members of the militant group Sanlakas staged yet another rally to oppose the proposed 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant of Ludo Power Corp. (LPC) in Sawang-Calero, Cebu City.
Carrying placards to express their opposition, the rallyists, some of whom were smeared with black oil on their faces and bodies, gathered in front of the Department of Energy (DOE) office in Central Visayas.
Teody Navea, secretary-general of Sanlakas-Cebu, called on DOE-7 to listen to the appeal of residents living near LPC as well as the opposition from the Archdiocese of Cebu and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
“I hope that whatever permits which LPC will ask from DOE will be disapproved,” Navea said.
DOE-7 Director Antonio Labios, in an interview, said that while new power plants are always welcomed by the government, power generation companies should comply with the necessary requirements to be able to operate including a Certificate of Compliance from the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Also, the companies, he said, must conform with all the environmental laws of the locality and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
“There must be social acceptability. That is, the power plant is accepted by the community. Otherwise, if they are not approved by the people, then we could not force them to operate,” Labios said.
Mayor Osmeña earlier said that a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Barangay Sawang Calero is too much. In April last year, the City Council also rejected the proposal for being harmful to the environment.
The proponent, LPC, revived the proposal in December.
Palma called on people to seriously care for creation and to stop actions that would destroy the environment.
“We are convinced as a community that such project will surely destroy our environment, coal being a primary contributor to global warming,” Palma said.
“We cannot sacrifice the health of the people and the impact to the environment with the business profit of the company who are pushing for the approval of the said coal-fired power plant,” he added.