ILOILO CITY — An environmental coalition on Thursday lamented the lack of transparency in the waste-to-energy project of this city.
The coalition called out the Iloilo City government for its joint venture agreement (JVA) with a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) for the Iloilo Solid Waste Management Facility (ISWMF) that will rise in Barangay Ingore, La Paz District.
“The bigger concern is the lack of transparency,” said Froilan Grate, executive director of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Philippines.
“Most of the information we got are from press releases of the city government. This deprives the people the opportunity to review what is the project about and its impact to the community,” added Grate.
The city government led by Mayor Jerry Treñas inked the JVA for the ISWMF with MPIC’s MetPower Venture Partners Holdings Inc. as it prepares for the closure of the sanitary landfill in Barangay Calajuan, Mandurriao District.
The ISWMF will rise near an existing coal-fired power plant and a water desalination plant operated by two MPIC subsidiaries.
“This will house facilities for anaerobic digestion, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) processing, desalination, and materials recovery. The coalition’s primary concern is the ISWMF and the RDF, which essentially repackages waste as fuel,” the coalition said.
“Both processes emit harmful air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and toxic by-products like ash, which even advanced filtration technologies cannot fully contain,” the coalition added.
The MPIC said that ISWMF will not be an incinerator-based facility and claimed no air pollutants will be emitted. But the environmentalists noted that incinerators, which burn trash to convert into energy, will emit air pollutants.
MetPower has yet to disclose any information even to the media what the technology will be used in the ISWMF.
“The city must inform Ilonggos how they decided on such hazardous technology, whether people have been told the risks, and what the city’s plan is to protect the community from health impacts and pollution of waste-to-energy,” urged Romela Gianan, a volunteer for Greenpeace Iloilo Volunteers.
“We, the youth of Iloilo City, support efforts to build a greener city while urging the local government to ensure an equitable climate justice response that includes and uplifts diverse voices,” added Toni Lopez, executive director of Youth Voices Count.
The coalition urged the public to be circumspect with electing local leaders who are transparent in pushing for the welfare of the environment and the people.
“There is a need to highlight a green environmental agenda in the coming local elections to elect officials who will stand for the people's welfare and sustainable development,” added Melvin Purzuelo, executive Director of Green Forum.
Other members of the coalition are ILIG Batiano, People Against False Solutions, and Green EcoWarriors.