PNOC Project Endangers Mt. Kanlaon; Will Displace Thousands

Mt. Kanlaon is supposed to be a forest reservation yet the government firm PNOC is building at its foot a geothermal plant that would bring power to the entire island. Farmers are restive because the project has only wrought disaster and an uncertain future to their once quiet and simple life.

By Karl G. Ombion and Edgar A. Cadagat
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-Ans

A thick canopy of trees beckons members of the fact-finding mission as they trek up the PNOC drilling site at the foot of Mt. Kanlaon in Negros last week. The smoke at right spots where the controversial PNOC project is. Photo by Courier/Bulatlat.com

Just when the Don Salvador Benedicto-North Negros Forest Reserve forest denudation began to stir the anger of Negrosanon, another one is about to trigger their wrath even more.

In Barangay Mailum, Bago City, parts of which belong to the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park, a fact-minding mission of Church leaders, peasants and environmentalists found huge swathes of land and farms under a state of degradation; hundreds of families also face displacement.

The culprit, mission members alleged: the government-owned Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC).

PNOC has been conducting geothermal exploration on the 169-ha. buffer zone of Mt. Kanlaon – which is covered by NIPAS – for a year. The state-owned firm plans to build a geothermal power plant in the area. As a result, Mailum, a quiet, bucolic and self-sufficient village is now rapidly turning into a deserted zone. Provincial executives have supported the PNOC project saying the whole Negros island will face a power shortage by 2005. Farmers doubt this, however. They say that the plant will provide power for the agri-business of businessman-landlord Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., magnate Lucio Tan’s bottled water plant and upland private resorts.

The fact-finding mission, held Sept. 18-19 and led by the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, Center for Environmental Concerns, Agham, Bacolod Social Action Center, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and a group of journalists found hundreds of households or about thousands of individuals about to be displaced. Twenty-eight families will be displaced in Sitio (sub-village) Napatagan, 18 in Bulubugnay, 19 in Valiente, 136 in Pataan, 28 in Napatagan and six in Kinabkaban.PNOC promises. 

Under duress, the farmers were asked to sign a memorandum of agreement (MoA) where PNOC promised to pay for their relocation and for the costs of land and crops lost. But they would have to wait for their land titles for 10 years, company officials said.Some farmers though bucked the relocation with 24 of them signing a petition last August to demand details of their transfer and the site of relocation. They also asked that they be given a one-hectare land that is proven to be arable and that land titles be issued immediately.

In the MoA signed by the farmers, one was supposed to be paid P3 million for damages and the assessed value of his crops. Came pay time and the farmer received only P185,000.Now, it looks like the soon-to-be-displaced farmers won’t even have any land for relocation at all. One of them, Alberto Garcia, told fact-finding members that officials of the Departments of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), told him and other farmers they have no land rights anymore in the area. The area has been declared for government use and to generate power sources, they were also told.

“We were fooled by PNOC and other agencies,” said the young poor farmer.Garcia, or Bemboy as he is known to members of the Mailum United Farmers Association (MUFA) which he chairs, fears that the villagers’ more than 13 years of living a simple life in the area may soon come to an end. “The PNOC project appears to be unstoppable despite our exposes’ and protests,” he says. 

Toxic emissions 

Bemboy also decried how the PNOC is destroying the forest and rivers – the villagers’ source of livelihood for many generations. Several drillings, which run to three kilometers deep, have emitted toxic waste from steam heat and fuel residues that contaminated their water sources.“We no longer hear the chirping of birds and other animal sounds,” Bemboy says. “What we hear and smell instead are drilling machines roaring and the noise and smoke of huge tractors and trucks.” 

At least three children - siblings Junel, Jason and Junemar Cajilig - developed rashes after swimming in the river near the PNOC's drilling machine. Their mother, Cerlita Cajilig, 48, said villagers by the riverside have stopped getting water from the polluted river too. 

Fishes have died of poisoning by toxic pollutants from the drilling site, she said.  "Fish used to be plentiful here before the PNOC came - but not anymore," she said. Cerlita appealed to the barangay officials for medical assistance for her children. Not a word from the officials came.Not only residents are complaining, however. Workers from the PNOC union gripe of injustices they have been receiving from company officials.Workers, too.

Not only the residents are complaining. Even workers of the PNOC are griping about the supposed "injustices" they have been suffering. Their complaints include decry unfair labor practices, low pay, illegal dismissals, unjustified forced retirements and discriminatory policies. 

Some PNOC workers sympathize with the villagers’ plight. They said they would side with the residents when push comes to shove, at the risk of their jobs.And risks are plenty in the area. Members of the fact-finding mission told Bulatlat.com that soldiers belonging to the 303^rd IB fired shots while they were at Rig 10 of the PNOC project in Mailum. They were also blocked by PNOC guards from proceeding with their investigation, they said. They saw Army regulars and CAFGU paramilitary men wearing no name tags, they added. Bulatlat.com    

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