The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has cancelled the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) of a Korean company constructing a spa-resort at the crater of Taal Volcano in Batangas. But for residents of the volcano, it is not enough. They want the land titles of individuals claiming the volcano be revoked.
BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 22, July 8-14, 2007
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has cancelled the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) of a Korean company constructing a spa-resort at the crater of Taal Volcano in Batangas.
But for residents of the volcano, it is not enough. They want the land titles of individuals claiming the volcano be revoked.
Violations
DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes said that the Korean company Jung Ang Interventure constructing the spa-resort failed to submit to the department the necessary papers and clearances needed for a permit to start construction.
The DENR approved the company’s ECC on Nov. 8, 2006 containing 27 conditions, 5 of which have been violated, according to the DENR multipartite team report submitted to Reyes.
But in a three-page report earlier submitted by the DENR multipartite team to Reyes, ECC conditions 1, 2, 4, 10, and 19 were noted to have been violated by Jung Ang Interventure Corp., which led to the suspension of the ECC.
Reyes said that the company was not transparent in its ECC application when it built a 15-person capacity elevator in stead of the four-person capacity elevator provided in the plan. Added to this, the construction of a road was not mentioned in the original plan. He said that Taal volcano is an environmentally-critical area for a road to be built. The plan to build a road has no clearance from the DENR.
Other violations of the ECC include:
– The firm failed to get permits /clearances from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs); Housing, Land, Urban, Regulatory Board (HLURB); National Water Resources Board (NWRB), Department of Tourism, and local government units. This was clearly stipulated in condition number 2;
– The firm did not apply for an Environmental Management Plan (EMP);
– The firm failed to apply for a “Permit to Cut” order from the DENR-Forest Management Services-CALABARZON Region;
– The firm did not set up a billboard measuring at least 0.5 meter by 1.0 meter to inform the public about the construction of the spa resort.
Eco-tourism?
But Taal residents and militant groups said that Reyes knew all along about the irregularities in the project since Taal is an active volcano.
Carl Ala, spokesperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said that they have obtained a certification from the office of former Batangas Vice Gov. Ricky Recto stating that the company’s permits and licenses for the spa construction did not pass through the provincial capitol.
Just last month, Reyes was defending the project which he said would boost eco-tourism.
Citing DENR Administrative Order No. 96-30 of the Environmental Impact System of the Philippines, Reyes said that the municipal government can approve the documents needed for the ECC, and it need not pass through the provincial capitol. The area in question is within the jurisdiction of Talisay town.
He said that it is the department’s regional offices that issue ECCs and the national office would only intervene if there would be disagreements between the developers and the settlers.
Reyes also said that there is nothing in the law that prohibits the agency from granting an ECC to a business interested in investing in Taal Volcano even if it has been proclaimed a protected area under the Protected Landscape through Presidential Proclamation No. 906 in Oct. 6, 1996. The proclamation covers over 60,000 hectares of the island.
“Having an active volcano as tourist attraction is not new. Tourists even pay considerably just to see lava flows in many volcanoes in other places like Hawaii,” Reyes even said in one of his press conferences.
Likewise, DENR regional executive director Eduardo Principe said that the ECC issued for the resort spa on Taal Volcano is not a first. He said an ECC was granted to a resort spa near the mouth of Mt. Hibok-Hibok, also considered an active volcano, around seven years ago.
Despite the cancellation, Reyes said the Korean firm could re-apply for another ECC once they have complied with requirements.
He also said that proponents of the project should make sure that only light and indigenous materials would be used to construct the six-hectare resort spa. The land, said to have been titled since 1916, was bought by the Korean company from its owners.
