LUCENA CITY—The Quezon provincial legislative council has approved the construction of the third coal-fired power plant in the province, in response to the anticipated shortage of power supply in the country for the coming years.
Quezon Second District Provincial Board Member Ferdinand Talabong and his colleague, Board Member Donaldo Suarez spearheaded the approval in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) early this month of the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Atimonan One Energy power plant project to be located in Barangay Villa Ibaba in Atimonan town.
“Res ipsa loquitor,” or “the thing speaks for itself,” Talabong, a lawyer, said on why the board members approved the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, despite the establishment of the 730-MW Pagbilao and 440-MW Mauban coal-fired thermal power plants a few years ago.
“Look at Pagbilao and Mauban towns. They are the envy today of other municipal governments in our province, because of progress due to the construction of the two power plants in both towns. They have better roads, municipal buildings and educational facilities; they have medicine supply for the health problems of their populace, and their employees enjoy good salaries, so res ipsa loquitor, a Latin term in law which means the thing speaks for itself,” Talabong told the BusinessMirror in an interview on Monday at his law office here.
Talabong admitted that 11 SP members, including its presiding officer, Vice Gov. Sam Nantes, have gone to Taipei, Taiwan, on January 28 and 29, because they were formally invited by a construction firm in Formosa, which, together with Meralco Power Generation Co MGen, is the project proponent of the power facility to be constructed in Atimonan.
“Before we traveled to Taiwan, we talked it over and consulted Governor Suarez and Vice Governor Nantes for the trip, and our travel expenses are shouldered by the project proponent. We went there for inspection, and we have visited two power plants there within the city proper itself: one in the commercial district and the other in an industrial estate,” Talabong said. He said the SP only approved the endorsement of the power project to the Department of Energy (DOE), and it’s up to the national government to make the final decision.
He said that SP members during the administration of former Gov. Eduardo Rodrigues also traveled for inspection of power plants in Hong Kong and America before the construction of the Pagbilao and Mauban power plants, both established during Rodriguez’s term.
Talabong, SP committee chairman on laws and ways and means, said that Quezon province is already lagging behind in the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, because there are two similar power plants to be constructed in Davao City and another in Limay, Bataan, by the same Formosa power construction firm.
He said that the establishment of a new power plant in Quezon is in response to the directive of the national government, and the emergency power given to President Aquino last year was to address the impending power crisis of the country. He said the DOE has revealed that the country will be about 500 MW short in power supply yearly and needs to have a standby of some 1,500 MW to avoid a power shutdown.
Talabong said the establishment of the Atimonan power plant comes with the construction of a 20-kilometer road project from Barangay Villa Ibaba to the national highway that will benefit four to five barangays. About P300 million will be generated in real-property taxes annually for the province.
Earlier last year the power-project proponent has proposed for the establishment of a liquefied natural gas-power plant facility in Atimonan, but changed its mind because it considered the construction of a power plant fueled by coal much cheaper than natural gas.
On February 2 the SP, led by Talabong and Suarez, the SP committee chairman on energy, approved the planned expansion of the Mauban power plant in Barangay Cagsiay that would double its power-generating capacity to more than 800 MW.
In June last year the SP approved the power-plant expansion in Pagbilao with another 400 MW, from the existing 730 MW.