Republic of the Philippines HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Quezon City, Metro Manila Sixteenth Congress Second Regular Session 2164 HOUSE RESOLUTION Introduced by BAYAN MUNA Representatives CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE & NERI JAVIER COLMENARES and GABRIELA Women’s Party Representative LUZVIMINDA C. ILAGAN RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE HOUSE COMMITTEES ON ECOLOGY, NATURAL RESOURCES AND CLIMATE CHANGE TO CONDUCT A JOINT INVESTIGATION, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, ON THE APPROVAL OF A. STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN CLEARANCE TO THE (DMCI) COAL- FIRED POWER PLANT PROJECT OF DMCI POWER CORPORATION IN NARRA, PALAWAN, INQUIRING INTO THE HASTY APPROVAL DESPITE THE LACK OF SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY, THE SERIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY RISKS PRESENTED TO PALAWAN’S COMMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEMS, THE QUESTION OF ACTUAL EXCESS POWER SUPPLY IN ‘THE PROVINCE AND THE AVAILABILITY OF COMPETITIVE CLEAN POWER ALTERNATIVES, AND THE PALAWAN COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE, DEVELOPMENT’S CORE MANDATE TO PROTECT PALAWAN’S ENVIRONMENT, TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MEASURES FOR REGULATING POLLUTIVE INDUSTRIES TO ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL, PROTECTION AND THE WELL-BEING OF THE PEOPLE WHEREAS, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) approved on May 28, 2015, the application of DMCI Power Corporation, a subsidiary of D.M. Consunji Holdings, Inc. (DMC), for a permit to establish a 15-megawatt coal-fired power plant project in Narra, Palawan, by issuing a Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) clearance; WHEREAS, coal power is considered to be one of the “dirtiest” sources of fossil fuel energy and is identified as a major source of global carbon emissions, accounting for 44 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2012; WHEREAS, in 1990, the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the island province of Palawan as a “Man and Biosphere Reserve”, with the goal of establishing a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environment, and subsequently declated two if it’s ecological sanctuaties, namely the ‘Tubbataha National Reef Park and the Palawan Underground River, as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, in 1993 and 1999 respectively; WHEREAS, according to the Intetnational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Palawan is home to 105 of the 475 threatened and endangered species in the Philippines, 67 of which are endemic to the Philippines, with 42 of them located in Palawan;WHEREAS, according to environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, DMCI has an extensive track tecotd of various big business projects across the country that have caused economic and social dislocation, environmental destruction and pollution, and human tights violations, citing the following as examples: "Zambales Diversified Metals Corp., a subsidiary of DMCI Mining, is involved in the extensive watet pollution in the farming and fishing communities of Santa Cruz, Zambales, 4 The Calaca coal-fired power plant, acquited by DMCI Power in 2007, continues to cause respiratory diseases and negatively affect fisheries productivity in Calaca, Batangas despite its use of ‘clean coal technologies? "The Semirara Coal Mine in Semirara Island, Antique has caused much pollution to its host community and immediate marine environment, and to wit has done nothing significant to address a landslide accident in 2013 where five workers died and five more were declared missing; + M&S Inc. and Silvicultural Industries, both owned by DMCL, have been logging in their Integrated Forestry Management Areas in Sultan Kudarat since 1989 covering 24,380 hectares of forested areas. South Davao Development Co,, also a subsidiary of DMCI, has been exploring for gold and copper in 1,274 hectares within the M&S IFMA itself; John Calaba, indigenous Manobo activist from the indigenous people’s organization KIDUMA, is suspected to have been forcibly disappeared by DMCI’s paramilitary guards last April 30 for their opposition to the abovementioned Sultan Kudarat projects; WHEREAS, contrary to reports of power insufficiency in the province, according to the Department of Energy, Palawan has a peak energy demand of 35 MW while the energy power capacity of energy providers namely Palawan Power, Delta P and DMCI has a total of 53.7 MW. ‘This means Palawan has a power reserve of 16.7 MW or 45% of the peak demand, more than the capacity of the proposed 15MW DMCI Coal Power Project, and that the current power crisis in the province is due to the inadequate capacity of the transmission and distribution systems of the Palawan Electric Company (PALECO), making the establishment of a new power plant completely unnecessary; WHEREAS, the DMCI 15 MW coal-fired power plant project can possibly worsen the power czisis in Palawan due to incompatibility with the existing infrastructure, as the limited capacity of the 13.8 kilovolts (KV) transmission tie-line can carry only a maximum of 12 MW of total power, WHEREAS, the ptice of electricity that the proposed coal plant will generate is pegged at PhP 9.38/kwh and with value added tax (VA'T) is (PhP 10.51//kwh , which is significantly higher than the PLP 6.59/kwh electricity rate expected to be produced by a hydropower project being proposed in the province; WHEREAS, as enumerated in the Palawan Island Energy Master Plan, Palawan has a total renewable energy potential of 164 megawatts (MW), with 143 megawatts from hydroelectric power, 11 MW from solar power, and 10 MW from wind power, and a study of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) shows that using hydro-clectric power in the province will result in saving an estimated PhP 750 million in fossil fuel costs and avoid 26,000 tonnes of carbon emissions yearly, while solar power will significantly lower the rate of clectricity sate to PHP 6.50 per Kilowatt/hour just after a few years in operation; WHEREAS, a signature campaign initiated by climate action group 350.org against the DMCI 15MW Coal-Fired Power Plant and to protect Palawan’s pristine environment has gathered almost 6,000 signatures, also, the DMCT project has already been rejected, first by the people of Narra in2013, and second by the people of Aborlan ‘Town when DMCI Power sought to relocate its coal power project there the same year; WHEREAS, the Palawan Alliance for Clean Energy (PACE) said that PCSD’s approval of the ‘coal project is a brazen disregard of PCSD’s core mandate to protect Palawan’s environment vis- avis Republic Act 7611 or the Strategic Environment Plan for Palawan Law. PACE said that PCSD, as a permanent regulatory agency, surrendered itself to machinations of local politics, kowtowing to the provincial governor's personal dictates; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the House Committees on Ecology, Natural Resources and Climate Change conduct an on-site investigation and hearing, in aid of legislation, on the release of a strategic environmental plan clearance to the DMCT coal-fired power plant project in Narra, Palawan, inquiring into the question of actual excess power supply in the province, on the hasty approval despite the lack of social acceptability, the setious environmental, health and safety sisks presented to Palawan's communities and ecosystems, and the PCSD’s disregard of its core mandate vis-a-vis RA 7611, towards the establishment of measures for regulating pollutive industries to ensure environmental protection and the well-being of the people. Adopted, Bayan Muna bt