Aquino and the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant

Corazon Aquino was laid to rest yesterday.

Through a massive outpouring of people in the streets, the Filipino people ousted the regime of the dictator Marcos in February 1986. The event, popularly known as the People Power Revolution, was the culmination of years of mobilizations, protests, strikes and welgang bayan (people’s strike) that preceeded the fortituous date.

Among these protests was the welgang bayan held in June 20, 1985 which was supported by workers, students, clergy and ordinary residents from Bataan in addition to multitudes of protesters from other provinces. For nearly three days, people from the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Pangasinan and Manila marched toward Morong as part of the people’s protest against the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

The BNPP was a not only a monument of folly, but also a symbol of corruption during the dictatorship of President Marcos. The struggle of the people against the nuclear plant then has contributed to exposing the blatant corruption and fraud during Marcos regime, adding to the widening discontent during the period which later on led to the ouster of the dictator.

On April 30, 1986, a few days after the 1986 Chernobyl incident, President Corazon Aquino decided not to operate the plant in response to strong opposition from Bataan residents and the general people alike. Basing her decision on a technical audit by the National Union of Scientists (NUS), which found more than 4,000 technical defects in the project, President Aquino mothballed the BNPP and decided to pursue court action against Westinghouse. At that time, there were strong indications that pointed to fraud involved in taking out the loans to finance the failed project. The Filipino people had to shell out $2.3 billion to pay for the cost of the plant.

Twenty three years after the EDSA 1 People Power Revolution, Corazon Aquino was laid to rest and yet the issue of the BNPP continues.

Hundreds of militant activists from Manila are once again mobilizing against its revival. Church people, environmentalists, scientists, health professionals and women joined the caravan, which was organized by the multi-sectoral alliance NO to BNPP Revival! A series of protest actions, fora, discussions and other activities were held as a response to a bill proposed in Congress to reopen the plant.

After a late-night discussion of House Resolution 1109 to have the Constitutional Assembly (Con-Ass), House Bill 6300 was introduced in the House of Representatives plenary in June as they prepared to go into a break. House Bill 6300 mandates the immediate rehabilitation, commissioning and commercial operation of the BNPP. It also includes a so-called validation study costing an additional P100 million while the rest of the bill seeks to start the immediate operation of the nuclear plant.

This validation study is on top of the Korean Electric Power Co. (Kepco) study, which the National Power Corp. (NPC) has contracted to do since Kepco operates a similar plant in South Korea. The national government, according to the pending bill in Congress, would be hiring foreign nationals to operate the plant in the absence of local skilled workers and engineers. Kepco’s study will give it foothold in the management contract that would follow the reopening of the plant. Trusting the inspection to interested parties such as Kepco and ignoring voluminous studies with regard to the plant is problematic. Kepco has an obvious interest in pushing for the reopening of the plant.

The government should be clear with its priorities. If they are serious in conducting studies to develop the energy sector, they should put the funds on researches in unleashing the renewable and alternative energy potential of the country. At least such a study for alternative energy resources would have groundbreaking results for the future of cheaper and safer energy sources in the country.

As the opposition to reopening of the plant strengthens while the political climate remains unstable, the NPC has said that it will be up to the next President to decide on what to do with the plant. These events are similar to those over 20 years ago. If they still push on with their plan to reopen the plant, an analogue of Newton’s Third Law becomes operational—an equal and possibly even stronger force to stop it will be generated by the concerted effort of the people against the plant.

As we remember Corazon Aquino, EDSA People Power 1 and the events leading up to it, the people will remember the representatives who will pass this folly of a bill. The people have a clear stand on the issue and they will not forget when the ballot starts to speak in 2010.

Corazon Aquino was laid to rest yesterday. There is still time to lay to rest the moves to reopen the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. –Giovanni Tapang, Ph.D, Manila Times

Dr. Giovanni Tapang is the chairperson of AGHAM.

prom.bound@agham.org