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Senate environment committee sets on-site probe of hanjin high-rise development

Wednesday, April 09, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]

Senate environment committee sets on-site probe of Hanjin high-rise development Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Chairperson Senator Pia Cayetano will lead an on-site inquiry on the controversial construction of two high-rise condominiums in the middle of the Subic Bay Freeport rainforest on April 25.

Cayetano said the public hearing will seek to determine whether existing environmental laws and regulations were violated when the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) allowed South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Ltd. to put up two high-rise buildings for the housing of its staff right inside the Subic Bay Watershed Forest Reserve.

The inquiry intends to come up with remedial measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, she added.

The Subic Bay Freeport has a sprawling land area of 13,600 hectares, why did the condominiums have to be built inside a protected rainforest? The SBMA should explain.

“I hope the parties involved would be willing to appear and answer all criticisms being raised about this project at the Senate probe,” she added.

She noted that at least three crucial issues would be tackled by the inquiry.

“First, we’d like to review the propriety, or lack thereof, of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between DENR and SBMA. This supposedly gave the latter full autonomy over matters concerning the environment in Subic, including the 10,000-hectare protected watershed.”

“Second, we’d like to look into the Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued for the so-called twin towers of Hanjin. Who were the people who approved it and what was their basis? How were they able to reconcile their decision with the project’s potential impact on the biological diversity and productive capacity of the watershed? Are the mitigating measures they recommended in the ECC sufficient, and are these being complied with?”

“Third, we want to verify certain claims that the coverage of the watershed had been vastly reduced from 10,000 hectares (as originally set aside by Proclamation No.926) to only 8,000 hectares, and whether this had a bearing in justifying the construction of the condominiums inside a so-called ‘development zone’ within the protected watershed.”

Among the resource persons to be invited include Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga and Ecology Center Chief Amethya dela Llana-Koval, Hanjin President Shim Jong Sup, Bantay Kalikasan Managing Director Gina Lopez, environmentalist groups and local communities to be affected by the project.

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