PUERTO PRINCESA CITY\u2014The plan of a mining company to expand operations in untouched virgin forest areas of southern Palawan has sparked a heated exchange between local officials, led by Governor Jose Chavez Alvarez, and environmental groups opposed to mining in the province.<\/p>\n\n
Alvarez, who was presiding over a meeting on Thursday of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) to discuss the proposed expansion of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. into Mount Bolanjao in Bataraza, objected to a position paper submitted by environmental group Palawan NGO Network Inc. (PNNI) and challenged its head, lawyer Robert Chan, to a fistfight.<\/p>\n\n
Chan, executive director of PNNI, had written the PCSD objecting to the reclassification of areas covered by the mining expansion plan. The letter, Alvarez claimed, was disrespectful to the PCSD.<\/p>\n\n
Environmental groups had questioned the PCSD\u2019s issuance of a clearance to the mining project and a separate clearance to a plan to build a coal power plant in the province.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhat does he want, war? If he wants, we can square off, the two of us,\u201d Alvarez said in an outburst that silenced the plenary body during the meeting.<\/p>\n\n
Alvarez accused PNNI of \u201cunfairly blaming\u201d the PCSD secretariat.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cHe (Chan) was unfairly criticizing the secretariat without addressing the issue to me. We only want to help the poor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
Civil society groups, reacting to the governor\u2019s outburst, have demanded that he apologize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The plan of a mining company to expand operations in untouched virgin forest areas of southern Palawan has sparked a heated exchange between local officials, led by Governor Jose Chavez Alvarez, and environmental groups opposed to mining in the province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,39],"tags":[47133,333,3954,152234],"byline":[542],"source":[206071],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n