Don’t make BNPP a political issue–solon

MANILA, Philippines — The lead proponent in the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) at the House of Representatives appealed to critics to keep politics out of his initiative and see it as the only viable answer to the country’s looming energy woes in the coming years.

“I am disappointed that the nuke energy generation issue in the country is taken on the same breadth as Charter change,” Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco said in a statement.

“It is unfair because it should not be a political issue. It was politics that killed our chance to a cheaper and economically viable energy source in the past,” he added.

Cojuangco is the principal author of House Bill 6300, a consolidation of four measures calling for the rehabilitation, commissioning, and commercial operation of the mothballed structure.

Environment groups headed by the Kalikasan revived this week opposition to the revival of the plant, calling other groups to relive history and put an end to the project once and for all.

The group said one of the reasons the Arroyo Administration was “hell bent on pursuing this deadly project was the money behind to fuel her [President] electoral machinery and to have enough people in Congress to pursue Charter change.”

In a speech in Japan, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo raised the possibility of using nuclear power in the country.

”President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can’t help but consider it I guess, because it’s the solution against climate change being, not only considered, but also implemented, by most successful countries,” Cojuangco said.

Cojuangco appealed to critics to keep an open mind about nuclear energy. “We must do away with personal interests especially those which are politica in nature,” he said.

HB 6300 has been sponsored on the floor and would be debated when Congress resumes session next month. –Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQUIRER.net