Protesters stopped near planned coal-fired plant
POLICE on Saturday blocked supporters of Greenpeace activists from reaching a protest camp at the site of the proposed coal-fired power plant as the standoff between supporters and opponents of a coal plant project entered its second day.
La Paz District police, who have set up a checkpoint near the protest site, stopped members of environmental and church groups from setting up a center where they will hold discussions against the coal plant in Barangay Ingore.
City police director Senior Supt. Wesley Barayuga said the group was prevented from getting into an area close to the plant of the Panay Power Corp. (PPC).
“We are only protecting a vital installation because violence could erupt if the pro- and anti-coal plant groups meet,” he said.
But the protesters said they were being prevented from exercising their right to air their protests against the project.
Greenpeace activists on Friday erected a portable 20-foot-tall tower at the shores of Barangay Ingore at the site of a proposed 164-MW coal plant. The group unfurled streamers against the coal plant, which they blame as among the main causes of global warming and climate change. The group’s flagship Rainbow Warrior is anchored near the protest camp.
The protest camp is around a kilometer away from the diesel-fired power plant of the PPC, Iloilo City’s main power supplier. PPC is a subsidiary of the Global Business Power Corp., the coal plant’s proponent.
The group has refused to leave the site until the company stopped its plan to build a coal plant.
Barangay officials and some residents have set up their own camp in support of the coal plant. They have also called for the dismantling of the tower and for the activists to leave the village.
Lemuel Fernandez, PPC public relations consultant, said the protesters were violating the law.
“They are trespassing on private property. They can hold their protest elsewhere,” Fernandez said.
Village chief Ernie Poral said the activists are violating a barangay resolution that requires a permit for the putting up of any structure in the barangay including on privately-owned properties.
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