Group to bring Naga coal ash issue to international meeting

CEBU, Philippines - The controversial purchase of the Balili property and the proposed coal-fired power plant in Naga City will soon be among the topics in foreign discussions as it will be included in the coming climate meetings that will be held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Cebuano environmental activist and executive director of Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center Inc. Vince Cinches said he will “personally ensure that the issue of coal-fired power plant construction in Cebu province will be included in various climate meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, including one inside the mini session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.”

As one of the chosen observers in the negotiations, Cinches said that they have already requested meetings with negotiators in order to discuss ways to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emission.

“Our presence in Bangkok will ensure that Philippine Government’s representatives will toe the line of truth, and counter any of their moves for more coal-fired power plants in our Country that they are passing as climate friendly technology,” Cinches said.

According to him, a discussion on KEPCO and EDC coal-fired power plants is co-organized by Thai environmental activists. This also includes the corruption issue involving the provincial government and the purchase of the Balili land, which according to Cinches, is an added factor to climate change.

Cinches said that if these issues would not be put to a stop, more dangers could be brought by the change in the climate and would greatly show effect in the environment as well as the health of the people.

 “At the center of this problem is the fossil-fuel centered policy of the national government and the Department of Energy, they are the culprit why the nation is suffering,” he said in a statement.

He emphasized that the country cannot afford more extreme weather events that would lead to the loss of more lives. He said that this is a great reason already for the need to cut the GHG emissions. “We need to stop our addiction to fossil fuel and chose the path toward renewable and sustainable energy.”

FIDEC cited the Fourth Assessment Report of United Nations – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which says the Philippines will be among the many countries in South East Asia to be greatly affected by the changing climate.

“We will push for a more binding global climate policy, by putting in place the voices of the poor who are the most vulnerable, having no capacity to respond to climate change. Climate change is making the poor becoming poorer. If our government cannot act in behalf of the nation because their hands are tied to trans-national and multinational oil and coal corporations, then we in the civil society will do it,” the group said. —AJ de la Torre/WAB (THE FREEMAN)