By Robert Evora

CALAPAN CITY—The proposed coal-fired power plant in Oriental Mindoro may hasten the extinction of wetlands, rare birds and mammals endemic to their island.

Environmental groups here said the DMCI Power Corp., a subsidiary of DMCI Holdings Inc., is awaiting approval from the National Power Corporation of its application to put up a 30-megawatt power plant “as part of the company’s plan to bring down the cost of power to the so-called off-grid consumers.”

Isidro Consunji, DMCI Power chairman, said the project will be expanded to other places as well.

“We want to convert from oil to coal. Right now, we’re just waiting for approvals to do this in Palawan. If we get approvals, the subsidy will go down. We want to do the same thing in Masbate and hopefully, if we succeed in bagging the contract, we want to do the same thing in Mindoro,” he said in a statement.

The DMCI coal project in Aborlan town, in Palawan, is being opposed by residents because environmental issues.

“We oppose the coal plant because of the negative impacts to health and the environment, particularly to locally declared sanctuaries in the area. The discharge of waste water from the coal plant will cause thermal pollution that is hazardous to the marine ecosystem, especially coral reefs,” says Dr. Lita Sopsop, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the Western Philippines University, based in Palawan.

“Palawan risks losing its UNESCO status as a man and the biosphere reserve if the proposed construction of a coal-fired power plant pushes through in the province,” World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines said in a statement.

The UN body cites Palawan as a “site of excellence” where new and optimal practices to manage nature and human activities are tested and demonstrated. “However, the plan to put up a coal plant threatens the viability of the title,” the WWF Philippines said.

Alexander Ochs, an official of the Wildlife Institute, said “coal is the dirtiest of all energy resources” supplying industries.

“Coal kills, it’s that short. It pollutes the air, it pollutes our rivers. It has a very bad impact on the health of the people so from a social perspective, it is not a good source to use,” Ochs said, who is in Manila on invitation of former Senator Heherzon Alvarez, Climate Change Commission chairman.

The Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. said “Mindoro, the seventh largest island in the archipelago, is among the islands in the Philippines that hold a very rich conglomeration of flora and fauna with high endemicity.”

In last September’s first eco-tourism summit, participants from various Mimaropa provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan declared Region IV-B as the “country’s eco-tourism haven.”

“We pledge our commitment to promote and support efforts on developing and managing eco-tourism in the region and making Mimaropa the premier tourist destination in the Philippines,” the delegates from the private and public sectors said in their joint declaration of commitment.

(First published at Manila Standard)