Korean Company Takes Heat Over Volcano

Plan to build Philippine Island spa faces obstacles

By: Paterno Jr Rebosura for Ohmynews.com

To the chairman of Jung Ang Interventure Corp., a Korean company planning to construct a wellness spa, everything seemed to be in order. The company found a piece of land on a volcanic island in the Philippines, signed an agreement with the local government for joint undertaking, obtained an environmental compliance certificate last year and even received blessings from national tourism officials.  Then, Kim Yoon ordered digging to begin on an access road to the proposed spa. The project was expected to generate 300 jobs.

No one bothered him until early this month, when several islanders protested the “desecration” of the place.

Prodded by a local militant group, the opposition group urged the new provincial governor to stop the project to protect the islanders from possible eviction.

The governor did not want to put blame on local officials who had approved the project. She said a dialogue should be held. The governor herself, however, did not favor a resort on the volcanic island because it was a sanctuary, a unique treasure.

Earlier, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology complained that the project had disturbed their monitoring activities. The agency also repeatedly warned against the project because Taal was an active volcano and the area a permanent danger zone. A level one alert has been in place there since 2005.

For his part, the environment department’s secretary defended the issuing of the environmental compliance certificate for the sake of ecotourism. On Wednesday, however, he suspended the certificate and stopped construction on the Taal Island Spa Resort. He made the decision after personally inspecting the project and talking with residents.

The inspection team discovered five violations of the 27 conditions on which the certificate was issued. The certificate remains suspended until the Korean company complies with all the stipulations.

The secretary also re-called the clearance issued by the protected area management board, pending disclosure of the company’s future plans.

An agreement earlier entered into by the company showed that it was planning to put up a disco, a family KTV (family-oriented karaoke place), an Internet cafe and a sports center on the island.

There is also a plan to build two lifts, each of which will carry 15 viewers from the rim of the volcano, a permanent danger zone, to the lake that is fills the crater.

A company representative admitted that they only have a building permit, having yet to secure clearances and permits from the water board, the volcano agency, the housing and land use regulatory board and the tourism department. The company admitted to the violations and vowed to correct them.

Pia Cayetano of the Senate’s environment and natural resources committee said the sale of the land to the Korean company could be spurious since the volcano is public land.

The claim by local officials that the land was sold by the owner to the Korean company based on a Spanish title was questionable. But the mayor of Talisay town said the lot was acquired by the present owner’s family in 1916, when the island was classified as a hill.

The senator insisted that Taal has always been a volcano, even as early as 1749, when it first erupted. A major eruption occurred in 1911, five years before the title to the “hill” was supposedly acquired. Other records showed that it has also erupted in 1754 and 1878.

The senator added that even if the Spanish title was authentic it should have been re-registered under the Ameridan Torrens title system issued in 1976, which discontinued the Spanish mortgage system.

Digging deeper into the issue reveals that the problem lies not with the Korean developer but with the system of governance in the Philippines.

The lake was once a pristine body of water where fish abounded. Now it is a mess and has a foul odor. The odor is caused by the meal given to the tilapia fish farms.

The local government authorized four villages to put up the fish pens but today almost all the villages along the lake have pens, which make the body of water hazardous to boatmen. The smaller fish farmers have been displaced by the illegal fish pen operators.

Armed guards hired by the fish pen operators sometimes mistake the local fish farmers for thieves, which only complicates the problem.

The mere fact that the government cannot control the presence of illegal fish pens shows that laws are ignored by those who can afford to do so.

The national government and the conservationists should look into issue. For all we know, the Korean company was made into a scapegoat.