Pro-environment organizations on Wednesday, May 17, scored a victory after the Authority of the Freeport Area Bataan declared that the “public scoping” of a fossil gas project in the area is null and void.
The groups filed a petition against the Mariveles LNG Terminal Project of Samat LNG corporation for allegedly violating several laws ensuring that due process is observed and members of the affected community are given the chance to participate in any public hearing.
The fossil gas project proponent allegedly conducted a “public scoping” this week “despite failure to publish the notice on the newspaper,” on its website, in conspicuous places in the affected community, which is “required under the law.”
Lawyer Aaron Pedrosa of the Philippines Movement for Climate Justice said the posting and publication requirements “are not mere rules of procedure but are actually jurisdictional in nature.”
“They are essential in ensuring that due process is observed and that the members of the community can meaningfully participate in these consultations,” he said. “No public scoping should ever be held without complying with these requirements,” he said.
Derek Cabe, coordinator of the group Nuclear and Coal Free Bataan Movement, lauded the the Authority of the Freeport Area Bataan for “nullifying the bogus public scoping.”
Cabe, however, said the “fight against this LNG project is far from being over,” adding that people should remain vigilant of any attempts “to circumvent the provisions of the law.”
The Mariveles LNG Terminal is proposed to be built in Sisiman village in Mariveles, Bataan, with a total project area of 37,729m² and with production/capacity of 14,400m³.
