CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, February 5, 2009—The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro joined the growing opposition to the transfer of the P2.1 billion bio-ethanol plant which the Alcantara-owned Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) is proposing to build on top of the city’s watershed area.

Fr. Jose S. Cabantan, Archdiocesan Social Action Director, said the project should be opposed by every well-meaning individual because it will “destroy us all not only our environment.”

The church official attended the public hearing in Barangay Bayanga last week representing Archbishop Antonio Ledesma. He said the promised livelihood assistance for village residents will only be good during the construction phase, at the most three years.

“Ikabaylo ba ang duha o tulo ka tuig nga pagpanarbaho sa pipila nga taga Barangay Mambuaya ug Bayanga sa malungtaron nga kadaot nga mahiagoman sa karon ug umaabot nga kaliwatan? (Can we exchange two or three years of employment of a few residents of Bayanga and Mambuaya for the long-term destruction it will cause to us and our descendants?)” he asked.

The proposed bio-ethanol plant, the first in Northern Mindanao, is scheduled for commercial operations by early 2011, according to Tomas Alcantara, chairman of the Alcantara Group of Companies.

The proposed plant, with a targeted capacity of about 100,000 liters per day, will fill in an expected surge in demand for alternative fuels this year.

ACR said it hopes to capitalize on the anticipated growth in demand for fuel with the mandatory five percent blend of bio-ethanol by May 2009. Based on a forecast by the Department of Energy, domestic bio-ethanol demand is seen to reach 309 million liters per annum by 2009 and will increase further to 664 million liters by 2011 and 713 million liters by 2013.

The country needs around 15 to 20 ethanol plants by 2011 to meet the mandatory blend requirement of the Biofuels Act of 2006.

But various environmentalist groups here have opposed the project, calling it a “good idea in a wrong location.”

The bio-ethanol plant, as proposed by ACR, will be built on a 16-hectare area in Bayanga and Mambuaya, two hinterland villages that have been identified as part of the Iponan watershed along with Barangays Tumpagon, Tuburan, Pigsag-an, Dansolihon and Taglimao.

This 16-hectare area is part of the 24 hectares in Bayanga and Mambuaya that the City Council had re-classified into agro-industrial from agricultural through Ordinance No. 10885-2008 passed on January 7, 2008. Councilor Dante Pajo was then the presiding officer when it was passed.

The barangays of Bayanga and Mambuaya are right in the middle of one of the country’s few remaining ecologically-diverse environments – a rich agricultural and tourism asset. Beneath them lies an extensive system of caves and caverns that could lure spelunkers, trekkers and nature-seekers to explore and pay for the exotic pleasure. Aboveground are exciting vertical and horizontal spaces for adventurers: undulating landscape for horse-riding enthusiasts, white cliffs for wall-climbing/rappelling fanciers, jump-off points for hang-gliding hobbyists, and verdant plains/plateaus/valleys for camping, scouting and other outdoor events.

The proposed bio-ethanol plant will get its water from the Munigi River, which is the only source of potable water of residents of the two barangays. The plant is also near the Munigi Cave, a network of caves spanning six kilometers located in Barangays Mambuaya, Bayanga and Dansolihon.

Munigi Cave is known as a sanctuary of the Philippine Tarsier in the city. Munigi river, which feeds the Cagayan de Oro river, is the only source of drinking water for the local residents. Over 5,000 households in Bayanga and Mambuaya rely on this river for their drinking water. Water from the river is pumped to Bayanga only thrice a week and the pump is located five meters downstream from the planned bio-ethanol plant wastewater exit.

“The processing plant will gravely compete with sufficiency, and endanger the quality of the local water supply, and may result to marginalization of their basic need,” said the Kagay-an Watershed Alliance (KAWAL), a group composed of professionals, entrepreneurs and educators who live, own farms or manage nature-oriented operations in Bayanga, Mambuaya and environs — “an agricultural and forest zone with natural features highly suitable for organic farming, eco-tourism and outdoor activities.”

And opening these two barangays to industrial corporations jeopardizes the health of the Cagayan de Oro river. Barangay Mambuaya hosts the city's 12-kilometer white water rafting course, now being hailed as the Philippines’ and Asia’s whitewater rafting capital.

According to Cabantan, the wastewater and other effluent of the plant are in danger of contaminating Munigi river and eventually the Cagayan de Oro river.

The Cagayan de Oro River, also called Cagayan river, is one of the rivers draining the northern central part of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Its source is found in the Kalatungan Mountain Range in the central part of the province of Bukidnon. It traverses the municipalites of Baungon and Libona in Bukidnon and empties into the Macajalar Bay in Cagayan de Oro City.

Originally called Kalambaguhan river because of the "Lambago" trees (Hibiscus tiliaceus, a member of the Malvaceae tree family that only thrives in low altitude areas like seashores, riverbanks and other areas reached by tidal streams) once found abundantly along the river banks, the Cagayan de Oro river also serves as the natural boundary between the province of Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte and between Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro City. It also is the political boundary of the two congressional districts of the city. It drains an area 1,521 square kilometers long.

Aside from this, the river is a key element that bridges the ridge to reef landscape of Kitanglad and Macajalar Bay, the area is a crucial element to the habitat of endemic fishes, eels, birds (including the Brahminny Hawks and Philippine eagles), tarsiers and other wildlife in the landscape. (Bong D. Fabe)