Oppositors decry harassment, intimidation
NEW COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT
SUAL–Former Vice Mayor Alex Rigonan has condemned what he called an attempt by the mayor of Sual to silence opposition to the construction of a second coal-fired power plant in the town.
Rigonan slammed Mayor Roberto Arcinue for allegedly venting his ire on students of the Sual National High School who sided with the Save Sual Movement (SSM) when they joined a rally against the construction of a new coal-fired power plant in the area.
The rally was organized when President Rodrigo Duterte visited Sual to send off arrested Vietnamese fishermen but its participants were not allowed by the police and members of the Presidential Security Group to be in the site where Mr. Duterte was going.
Rigonan said the school principal was called to advise parents that their children are making a big mistake in opposing the construction of a new coal-fired power plant citing the promised economic bonanza to the town, aside from assuring enough supply of electricity.
Pointing to the continuing threat of global warming that gives rise to the melting of ice in the arctic and Antarctic oceans and the continuing rise of water level that could soon swamp shoreline communities, he said instead of another coal-power plant, a power plant that could use renewable sources of energy like windmills, solar power and others should be considered.
The new 900-megawatt coal-fired power plant proposed by Phinma will be the second of such plant in the town. The first is the Sual Coal-fired Power Plant being operated by Team Energy, with a capacity of 1,218 megawatts.
Rigonan called on Mayor Arcinue not to stifle the opposition in Sual as the members of SSM are only voicing their opinion that a second coal-fired power plant would be detrimental to the health of people of Sual and in adjacent areas.
“The people of Sual have been awakened and would not let a second coal-fired power plant to again pollute the air which they breath,” Rigonan said.
He also said more than1,000 residents have already joined SSM’s ongoing signature campaign. (Leonardo Micua)
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