Reyes:  Buffer zone needed
for serious power shortage
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said he met with Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra last night to explain the need for the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. to enter the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park buffer zone to tap more geothermal energy in order to meet a serious power shortage in Negros Occidental.

At a briefing on the power supply situation in Western Visayas before Negros Occidental officials and stakeholders at the Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Reyes said the PNOC-EDCs North Negros Geothermal Power Plant in Bago City, that aims to generate 49 megawatts, is vital to the energy needs of Negros.

The NNGP currently generates only 5 megawatts.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes last night said Negros and Panay are faced with a serious power shortage that must be solved by the private sector’s building new power plants with the support of various stakeholders.

Cebu, Negros and Panay will need a total of 261 MW until 2010 to avert a power supply shortage, or 159MW for Negros, 88 MW for Panay and 14 MW for Cebu, said Reyes at a briefing on the power supply situation in Western Visayas at Nature’s Village Resort Talisay City.

The Diocese of Bacolod yesterday maintained its stand that entry of state-owned Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp. in to the 169-hectare buffer zone of the Mt. Kanlaon National Park is “non-negotiable”, despite the endorsement of the Departments of Energy and Environment and Natural Resources.

Fr. Aniceto Buenafe, Social Action Director of the Diocese of Bacolod, said that while the PNOC-EDC gave its assurance that they will be responsible for the re-planting of trees to replace those they will cut from the buffer zone, the damage to the park could never be restored.

 “The damage will be irreversible and that is unacceptable”, Buenafe said in his letter to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental..