SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Senators who investigated the apartment complex being built by Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp.-Philippines at a forested area here in Subic pointed out on Friday some legal technicalities in the construction, but eventually conceded that the $20-million project violated no environmental law.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, who heads the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, led the on-site committee hearing at the Formosa Hall in the Subic Gateway Park here after inspecting the condominium project with Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement.

They were joined at the public hearing by Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises, and Representatives Herminia Roman (Bataan) and Carissa Coscolluela (Buhay Partylist).

Cayetano said the Senate hearing was brought to Subic, primarily, to inspect the project and determine whether the condominium construction violated any environmental law.

“This case is a big deal because the (project site) is in a protected area. We have to come down to Subic to personally see the area,” Cayetano told mediamen who covered the site inspection.

Cayetano and Zubiri were accompanied in the site inspection by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Feliciano Salonga, SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza, and Engr. Dong Kim, Hanjin’s project chief engineer.

The two SBMA officials were also invited to the public hearing, along with undersecretary Manuel Gerochi of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and SBMA Ecology Center manager Amethya dela Llana-Koval. Several groups from the Subic Bay community were also present in the hearing.

In the hearing that followed the inspection, Gordon and Zubiri said they believe SBMA did not violate any law in approving the Hanjin apartment project, but suggested that no other project of the same nature should be constructed within or near Subic’s forested areas.

“For me, SBMA did not violate any law and I believe in your good intention,” Gordon told SBMA officials. “But please don’t allow another one anymore,” he said.

“There is nothing we can do now, but make sure that all mitigation measures should be put in place to protect the environment and the people,” Zubiri said.

Gordon also commended the SBMA for being open to inquiries involving the controversial project.

Cayetano, meanwhile, stressed that the public hearing was not meant to scare away Hanjin or any investor in Subic, and added that the Senate has the responsibility to make sure that the interests of the people are guaranteed.

She also asked why the SBMA failed to stop the construction, which started in January 2007 without an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) that was eventually secured only on July 2007.

To this, SBMA’s Koval replied that the agency has given Hanjin a permit to conduct soil testing and to demolish existing structures in the area, but when the Korean company proceeded with the construction, it penalized the company in March 2007 for failing to secure an ECC prior to the start of the construction.

With this, Cayetano and Gordon said that they will file in the Senate a resolution seeking a stiffer penalty against violators to avoid similar incidents in the future. Instead of a penalty of P50,000 a day for failure to secure an ECC, they would recommend the penalty to be US$50,000 a day, the senators said.

Cayetano said a stiffer fine would show violators “how serious we are in protecting our environment.”

“P50,000 is nothing for investors who could spend millions of dollars for a single project,” she added.

For their part, the SBMA officials said they welcome the investigation into the Hanjin project and promised the agency’s assistance in the conduct of the probe.

They added that except for some technicalities in securing the ECC, there were no environmental violations committed since the area was already cleared of trees by the US Navy as early as 1968.

Arreza said that area is a former ammunitions shop used by the US Navy to store, test, check, assemble and maintain air- and underwater-weapons.

“We didn’t clear new areas because the SBMA only allows construction activities in previously cleared areas that were designated for development,” said Arreza.

HHIC-Phil officials said earlier that the apartment complex is part of Hanjin’s overall development plan to provide quarters for its Filipino and Korean workers and their families.

The two buildings, one with 22 stories and another with 10, have a total of 184 rooms and are   being developed within a three-hectare lot, which has a lease term of 50 years. The project costs US$20 million.

The Hanjin apartment complex is about two kilometers away from the 3,000-hectare Subic’s Core Ecological Zone, an area classified as a “no development zone” under the SBMA’s Protected Area Management Program (PAMP). (30)