CA strikes down ECC, deal on Subic power plant

A Court of Appeals division has invalidated the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued by the government to a firm planning to build a  P56-billion, 600-megawatt power plant in Subic, Zambales.

Apart from nullifying the December 2008 ECC issued to Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc (RP Energy), the CA 15th Division also struck down two subsequent amendements to the ECC, issued July 2010 and May 2011, respectively, by the Department of Environemnt and Natural Resources (DENR).

The ruling, which was contained in an eight-page decision penned by Associate Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo, denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the DENR, RP Energy, and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

“[T]he ECC Ref. Code 0804-011-4021 dated 22 December 2008, as well as its first amendment dated 08 July 2010 and second amendment dated 26 May 2011 issued in favor of respondent RP Energy… were all declared invalid due to various defects and non compliance with legal procedures/requirements concerned,” the CA said.

Also invalidated was the June 2010 Lease and Development Agreement (LDA) entered into by RP Energy with the SBMA.

The CA said it was now up to the SBMA and RP Energy to correct the “defects” in their agreements.

“The ball is in the court of the respondents concerned, so to speak, to immediately take the appropriate measures directed towards their faithful compliance with all the legal procedures/requirements, as well as the rectification of the said various defects,” the court said.

Despite nullifying the ECCs and the LDA, the CA refused to grant the petitioners’ request to issue a writ of kalikasan and an environmental protection order.

The power plant project involved a 380,004.456-sqm property in Subic.

The case stemed from a petition filed by a group led by then Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño with the Supreme Court seeking to stop the power plant project.

The SC issued a writ of kalikasan and transferred the case to the Court of Appeals.

The CA eventually ruled against Casiño’s group, and said that the petitioners failed  to prove that the project would cause environmental damage so big that it would affect residents of Bataan and Zambales provinces.

The CA noted that â ¤¦petitioners admitted during the preliminary conference that, at present, there is no environmental damage yet.â¤ù

Just the same, the CA still invalidated the ECCs and the LDA. The respondents eventually filed a motion for reconsideration, which had just been denied with the CA’s latest ruling. â¤” Mark Merueà ±as/KBK, GMA News