DENR stands by report on Semirara pollution
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Western Visayas is standing by its report alleging that the Semirara Mining Corp. (SMC) violated environmental laws by polluting the waters and marine resources of Semirara Island.
Bienvenido Lipayon, regional director of the DENR Environment Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), defended his recommendation to the DENR's Pollution and Adjudication Board to file a pollution case against the company and issue a cease-and-desist order (CDO) on its coal washing plant.
The SMC has threatened to file criminal and administrative charges against Lipayon for allegedly filing false reports against the company.
In a statement issued last Saturday by its lawyer Romulo San Juan, the SMC accused Lipayon of being hostile to the company because it denied the alleged request of the DENR official to replace the chair of a multiparty committee that oversees the environment fund put by the SMC.
“I'm not aware that they will be filing a case against me. But my report is not erroneous or false,” Lipayon said in a telephone interview.
He said the report was based on the complaint filed by residents of Barangay Alegria, one of the three villages of the island, and results of meetings of the Multi-Partire Monitoring Team (MMT).
The MMT is composed of representatives of the DENR, SMC, residents and local government units which ensures that the operations comply with conditions of the environmental certificate of compliance (ECC) issued by the DENR for the company to operate.
Lipayon had said in his recommendation that there was “prima facie evidence” against the company on the “disposal of coal material and tailings into the Suja Creek and to the sea.”
The EMB has also recommended the issuance of a P45,000 fine against the company for violating three conditions of its ECC.
SMC has denied that its operations and its coal washing plant have caused the siltation. It said storms in the recent years have caused the run-off from old coal stockpiles.
DENR Western Visayas regional executive director Ricardo Calderon said it is up to the PAB to rule on the merits of the allegation against SMC.
“(Lipayon) is just doing his job. And its normal for us working in government to be subjects of complaints,” Calderon said in an interview.
Calderon said due process was observed in the complaint filed by the residents and the issuance of a Notice of Violation against the SMC.
A group of environmentalists and scientists who conducted an inspection on affected areas on the island on April 16-17 has confirmed the coal siltation.
Melvin Purzuelo, coordinator of the Green Forum-Western Visayas, said the siltation has reached 2-3 kilometers offshore.
Scientists from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas and personnel of the DENR EMB have also collected water and soil samples last week to determine the extent of the pollution.