DENR urged to revoke pact with SBMA
Saying the construction of condominiums in the Subic rainforest had brought matters to a head, Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Antonio Cerilles Monday urged Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to revoke the agreement granting the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority the power to regulate the free port.
Cerilles, the environment chief in the Estrada administration, called on Atienza to re-exert the authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources over the Subic Freeport.
“The DENR should immediately revoke the MOA (memorandum of agreement) because it now seems that its partner doesn’t care about the environment,” Cerilles said in a phone interview.
“As a general rule, you can’t do construction work because it’s a protected area. It’s a watershed,” he said.
The construction of two high-rise condominiums by Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Ltd. inside the 10,000-hectare Subic Watershed Forest Reserve has stirred a furor among environmentalists and prompted some senators to call for an inquiry.
One of the buildings towers at least 20 stories, the other 10 stories.
The SBMA issued the environmental compliance certificate to Hanjin, by virtue of its memorandum of agreement with the DENR giving it “self-regulatory powers” over the free port.
Atienza on Sunday said he would review the MOA and go as far as amend it so that the DENR could exercise “oversight functions” over the free port if the SBMA was found to have fallen short of doing its job.
Power of review
Atienza on Monday stood pat on his position.
“Let them explain first before we review the whole process. It’s not good if we just cut them off,” he said in reaction to Cerilles’ call.
But Atienza also stressed: “The DENR should retain the authority to review this.” Only after the review then can the department decide whether to amend or revoke the MOA, he said.
Cerilles said the DENR should exert its authority anew over the free port because it had full responsibility to preserve the environment.
“The DENR should not pass on the responsibility of protecting the environment to another agency unless Congress makes an exemption, like in the case of the LLDA (Laguna Lake Development Authority),” Cerilles said.
Cerilles said he was referring to Republic Act No. 4850 creating LLDA, which assumed DENR’s function to monitor environmental compliance around Laguna Lake.
Key role
The former secretary described the MOA as an abdication by the DENR of its key role of preserving the environment, and as a “circumvention of the law” by the SBMA.
Cerilles stressed that the SBMA could not invoke the MOA to escape the country’s laws on the protection of the environment.
Malampaya project
“Even if it’s an economic zone, the DENR has jurisdiction over it. If you’re part of the Philippines, you’re covered by its laws,” he said. “Since we’re talking about a protected area here, the more the SBMA should follow the law.”
Cerilles said he had tangled in the past with former SBMA Administrator Felicito Payumo over the construction of the Malampaya gas project in Subic, which he said Payumo had argued didn’t require an ECC because it was inside an economic zone.
“I told him to prove to me he’s outside of the law,” he recalled telling Payumo.
Amethya dela Llana-Koval, the head of the SBMA ecology center, which cleared the condominiums project, has rejected a call from Sen. Richard Gordon for her to resign.
Protected area
“Why should I? We went through the ... process by the book ... I can defend the decision,” Koval told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Opposition Sen. Loren Legarda, who is calling for a Senate inquiry, said the authorities should explain why they allowed the buildings to be erected in a priority site of the National Integrated Protected Areas System.
Legarda said the project site was specifically reserved for “purposes of protecting, maintaining, or improving its water yield and providing a restraining mechanism [against] inappropriate forest exploitation and disruptive land use.” By TJ Burgonio - Philippine Daily Inquirer
Cerilles, the environment chief in the Estrada administration, called on Atienza to re-exert the authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources over the Subic Freeport.
“The DENR should immediately revoke the MOA (memorandum of agreement) because it now seems that its partner doesn’t care about the environment,” Cerilles said in a phone interview.
“As a general rule, you can’t do construction work because it’s a protected area. It’s a watershed,” he said.
The construction of two high-rise condominiums by Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Ltd. inside the 10,000-hectare Subic Watershed Forest Reserve has stirred a furor among environmentalists and prompted some senators to call for an inquiry.
One of the buildings towers at least 20 stories, the other 10 stories.
The SBMA issued the environmental compliance certificate to Hanjin, by virtue of its memorandum of agreement with the DENR giving it “self-regulatory powers” over the free port.
Atienza on Sunday said he would review the MOA and go as far as amend it so that the DENR could exercise “oversight functions” over the free port if the SBMA was found to have fallen short of doing its job.
Power of review
Atienza on Monday stood pat on his position.
“Let them explain first before we review the whole process. It’s not good if we just cut them off,” he said in reaction to Cerilles’ call.
But Atienza also stressed: “The DENR should retain the authority to review this.” Only after the review then can the department decide whether to amend or revoke the MOA, he said.
Cerilles said the DENR should exert its authority anew over the free port because it had full responsibility to preserve the environment.
“The DENR should not pass on the responsibility of protecting the environment to another agency unless Congress makes an exemption, like in the case of the LLDA (Laguna Lake Development Authority),” Cerilles said.
Cerilles said he was referring to Republic Act No. 4850 creating LLDA, which assumed DENR’s function to monitor environmental compliance around Laguna Lake.
Key role
The former secretary described the MOA as an abdication by the DENR of its key role of preserving the environment, and as a “circumvention of the law” by the SBMA.
Cerilles stressed that the SBMA could not invoke the MOA to escape the country’s laws on the protection of the environment.
Malampaya project
“Even if it’s an economic zone, the DENR has jurisdiction over it. If you’re part of the Philippines, you’re covered by its laws,” he said. “Since we’re talking about a protected area here, the more the SBMA should follow the law.”
Cerilles said he had tangled in the past with former SBMA Administrator Felicito Payumo over the construction of the Malampaya gas project in Subic, which he said Payumo had argued didn’t require an ECC because it was inside an economic zone.
“I told him to prove to me he’s outside of the law,” he recalled telling Payumo.
Amethya dela Llana-Koval, the head of the SBMA ecology center, which cleared the condominiums project, has rejected a call from Sen. Richard Gordon for her to resign.
Protected area
“Why should I? We went through the ... process by the book ... I can defend the decision,” Koval told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Opposition Sen. Loren Legarda, who is calling for a Senate inquiry, said the authorities should explain why they allowed the buildings to be erected in a priority site of the National Integrated Protected Areas System.
Legarda said the project site was specifically reserved for “purposes of protecting, maintaining, or improving its water yield and providing a restraining mechanism [against] inappropriate forest exploitation and disruptive land use.” By TJ Burgonio - Philippine Daily Inquirer
Labels: condominium towers, denr, ecology, hanjin, sbma
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