Coal-fired power plant, needed to address power demand
The law of supply and demand is a stark reality in life. The more one wants to be free of daily chores in the house or in the place where he is living, the more he wants to earn more to uplift his lifestyle and have somebody do the chores for him.
So is Region VI's demands for stable energy to sustain its increasing development initiatives. The looming power shortage in Western Visayas due to the increasing demand for power consumption needs to be addressed. The Department of Energy (DoE) forecasts that Panay island will be needing about 430 MW by 2015, an increase of more than 100% from the present power requirement of 216 MW. Thus, the need for a coal-fired power plant in Iloilo City.
This need is not a luxury item that can be set aside but a necessity that needs to be acted upon. Those who lived under the abundance of energy would surely do not want to live wanting for it daily. In other words, who would want to live under frequent power interruptions or "brownouts" when one has been used to having air condition or electric fan to cool himself?
The issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to the proponent, Global Business Power Corporation (GBPC), mother company of the Panay Power Corporation (PPC), for the construction of a 164-megawatt Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) coal-fired power plant would surely address the power requirement not only of Iloilo City but its neighboring areas.
PPC is proposing to build the coal plant inside its 40-hectare property in Barangay Ingore, La Paz The coal plant is expected to be completed by 2010 with the proponent's technical partner, Formosa Heavy Industries (FHI) of Taiwan.
This power plant would benefit the people of Panay Island with sufficient energy at lower cost, as this power plant will feed on coal which is abundant in the region – the Semirara Island in Antique is full of it.
Those who are against the construction of the coal-fired power plant in Barangay Ingore, La Paz, Iloilo City cited different excuses and alibis to stop it. It conducted different kinds of actions from rallies to signature campaigns and other underground efforts in order to derail the project.
Anti-coal advocates even used all kinds of media to portray its hazardous effects to environment and people. These groups used the USA coal-fired power plants as example that it is the single largest source of mercury and other metal pollutions. They even showed the quantity of these emissions per year. Modern technology has not found ways of containing these pollutions they said.
What in the world that USA was singled out when in reality almost all nations of the world have coal-fired power plants? China has its own and much many more than USA. Do these oppositors feel happy to have frequent brownouts in their place or homes? Are they willing to go back to the primitive way? Is this not hypocrisy in the highest level?
Perhaps, these oppositors have hidden agenda other than espousing the reported pro-people and pro-environment advocacy. Or these people are the willing tools of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) that aims to put the economy always in imbalance and the social status of the people remain that way particularly in the area where the proposed coal-fired power plant be constructed? Or that these people do not want the urban poor, which they project to suffer the brunt of development, to acquire decent jobs?
The nucleus of this group is the poor, thus, it wants that the poor will always remain poor in order that it will have a group of people to agitate, organize and mobilize. When they organized these people, they indoctrinate them with teachings that will give them loyalty.
These people who became loyal to them become their allies and participants in the different mass actions or other activities against the government initiatives that would benefit them. These communist advocates or say organizers in the urban poor will be rendered ineffective when coal-fired power plant is constructed and subsequently sustain the energy needs of Panay and enhance investment activities. Once this is realized work and job opportunities follow. Many will benefit and many will be socially alleviated. When people have work and job, this CPP/NPA/NDF will find it hard to agitate, organize and mobilize them.