Semirara residents decry pollution of coastal resources
Several residents of Semirara Island in Antique are calling on the government to stop the alleged pollution of their coastal resources from wastes coming from coal mining operations on the island.
The residents of Sitio Bigo of Barangay Alegria, one of the three villages of the island, have sought the help of environmental groups after the alleged pollution has continued despite a letter sent to Environment Secretary Jose “Lito” Atienza in September last year.
“We have sought action from local officials and repeatedly called the attention of the company. But the problem persists,” said Barangay Captain Ronald Lavega of Alegria in a telephone interview.
In their letter dated September 2008 to Atienza, the residents alleged that coastal resources including mangroves have died or have been contaminated by wastes coming from the coal washing plant of the Semirara Mining Company (SMC).
SMC officials have not responded to a request for a statement or reaction on the allegations.
SMC has been operating one of the biggest coal mines in Asia for more than 20 years on the 5,500-hectare Semirara Island.
Semirara is one of the nine islands comprising Caluya town in Antique at the northern end of Panay Island.
The residents said in their petition written in Filipino that their livelihood has been affected because the coal wastes have contaminated the water and marine resources. The petition has been signed by around 100 residents, said Lavega.
“A wide area of our seas where we depend our livelihood is slowly being destroyed because hectares of our mangroves and seagrass are slowly dying,” they said in their petition.
They said silt has covered their coastline and mangroves as waste coming from the company's coal washing plant goes directly to the sea because the siltation pond has not been operational for a long time.
The washing plant removes soil and rock coal before it is utilized or marketed.
Lavega said mangrove trees have already died because the silt that has covered the waters has reached more than a foot deep.
“The residents here rely on fishing, shell gathering and seaweed farming for their livelihood. We would naturally be affected if the waters and plants are polluted,” he said.
Barangay Alegria has around 1,300 residents with most of them affected by the alleged contamination of the coastline and marine resources.
The residents asked the DENR in their letter to help them by transferring or repairing the coal washing plant.
They also sought the implementation of a rehabilitation program for the affected areas and provide alternative livelihood for the residents.
The residents are also seeking indemnification from the company and other measures provided by the law.
Reached by phone on Friday, Atienza said he is unaware of the issue but said he will look into it.
Lavega said around five hectares of mangroves have been affected. But he alleged that last week, the company bulldozed the area with the dead and dying mangroves and planted it with coconut trees.
A sign declaring the area has also been put up and is now off limits to residents,according to Lavega.
“They do not want the public to see the dead mangroves and we have not been allowed to go near the area because it is already guarded,” said Lavega.
The island is host to 21 mangrove species or 60 percent of the total 35 species of mangroves in the country, according to scientists specializing on mangroves.
The mangroves and marine resources are still recovering from a massive oil spill that hit the area on December 2005
Around 113 hectares of mangrove forests were contaminated after 364,120 liters of bunker fuel were spilled off the coast of the island after a power barge of the National Power Corp. ran aground 200 meters from the island.