DAVAO CITY – Environmental activists held a protest outside the office of DMCI Holdings in observance of the World Environment Day today.
Members of Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) denounced DMCI for its various environmental crimes and human rights violations in several biodiversity areas in the Philippines.
The group said the latest case is the railroading of the 15-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Narra Town, Palawan Province.
“The Filipino people must demonstrate on World Environment Day our commitment to protect our natural heritage and ecology by opposing DMCI’s coal-fired power plant in the globally-renowned ecological treasure that is the province of Palawan,” said Leon Dulce, campaign coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
Kalikasan PNE noted that DMCI has an extensive track record of anti-people and anti-environment projects.
“DMCI’s group of companies has been extensively logging in almost 100,000 hectares of forest areas in Mindanao over the past three decades,” Dulce said citing the company’s mining Nickel in Zambales that has already caused massive water pollution and its coal-fired power plant in Batangas which is among the 13 power firms to face legal action from the Energy Regulatory Commission for manipulating power rates.
Dulce also said the DMCI has maintained a Special CAFGU Active Auxiliary (SCAA) units and paramilitary guards in Sultan Kudarat, which were suspected in the enforced disappearance of indigenous leader and environmental activist John Calaba.
Calaba was an officer in the Manobo group Kiduma, which opposed DMCI’s logging and mining projects in Sultan Kudarat.
