PROTEST LAUNCHED VS COAL POWER PLANTS IN BATAAN

LIMAY, Bataan: Members of the Coal-Free Bataan Movement (CFBM) and residents, including children, in black shirts and masks on Saturday staged a protest against the operation of two coal power plants in a village here. Carrying placards, the protesters silently lined up along the road fronting the compound of the two plants in Sitio Carbon, Barangay Lamao. Dubbed the “Climate Change Advocacies Black Saturday Protest,” Alvin Pura, CFBM spokesman, said the protest was staged to condemn alleged violations of the plants. Kilusan Pambansang Demokratiko-Bataan, meanwhile, said operating were Petron’s 140-megawatt coal power plant and the 600- megawatt coal power plant of San Miguel Corp.-Global. Pura explained that when the Taal Volcano erupted last January and spewed ashes, many people panicked, but “here in Bataan, we deal with ashes everyday.” Nelgie Santos, a resident, said she was confined for asthma and, when she had already spent a week in the hospital, asked to be discharged. She bared that the doctor told her not to go back to her house as the area around it is polluted by the coal plants.