NEWSFLASH
BORACAY THREATENED BY PROPOSED DUMPSITE
Quezon City, Dec. 18, 2000 - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) should preserve and protect the environment in Semirara Island, Antique which is being eyed as dumpsite for Metro Manila’s garbage.
Antique Rep. Jovito C. Plameras Jr. (Lamp, Antique) wrote an appeal to Flagship Projects Secretary Robert N. Aventajado, stressing vehement opposition to the proposed use of an open coal mine pit in Semirara.
Plameras told Aventajado that garbage dumping poses a very serious threat to the health and welfare of the people in Semirara Island, the whole Caluya group of islands and the nearby municipalities, including Boracay's world-famous beaches in Aklan.
He said that garbage dumping will definitely kill the fish and other forms of marine life that thrive in this group of islands which, he added, provides the entire province of Antique and neighboring provinces the fish that their residents need for their daily existence.
According to Plameras, the plan also threatens the islands' promising "sea-weeds industry," the main source of livelihood of its residents.
The Antique solon added that he had talked to the mayor and other officials of Caluya town who were unanimous against the dumpsite.
Antique officials have warned they will resist all attempts to implement the proposal.
The U.P. Association of Antiquenos, appealed to Plameras to block the proposed landfill site in Semirara Island.
They said garbage dumping, among others, poses as a threat to the DENR's Pawikan Conservation Project in Panagatan and Caluya Islands.
The islands are within the active faults trenches and collision zones which are prone to an average return of from 50 to 100 years of earthquakes of magnitude six and above with a recorded 17 earthquakes of that scale from 1915 to 1990.
Surrounding the proposed dumpsite area are watershed forest reserves which are included in the national Integrated Area System (NIPAS).
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