ANGELES CITY – First District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin said he will investigate the $400-million Korean golf course being constructed at the Clark Freeport for alleged violations of environmental laws that could affect the water supply of this city and two other areas under his district.
In an e-mail statement on Monday, Lazatin said he will file next week a resolution before the House of Representatives calling for an investigation of the tourism estate and the 36-hole golf course being developed by Donggwang Clark Corporation (DCC) in a 304-hectare area.
On July 28, Punto Central Luzon exposed the alleged cutting of at least 20,000 full grown trees and shaving of a mountain at the Northwest portion of Clark believed to be a watershed area.
Local environmentalists Sonny Dobles of the Alliance for the Development of Central Luzon (ADCL) and Cecille Yumul said the project “is being built in a watershed area, which is a clear violation of environmental laws.”
They added that DCC golf course could affect the water supplies of this city, Mabalacat City and Magalang town.
“The groups also expressed concern about its negative effects, especially now that hundreds of trees have been cut down and mountains have been leveled off to make way for the project,” Lazatin said.
The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) earlier assured the legality of the project and no environmental laws were violated. The CDC also said the regional Environment Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) praised the DCC’s erosion mitigating measures.
The CDC failed to issue statements since the early part of August when Dobles, Yumul and Deng Pangilinan, chair of the Mabalacat Water District exposed other issues against the DCC golf course project.
Pangilinan said the Pampanga Association of Water Districts (PAMAWAD) earlier handed a letter to the CDC asking for a moratorium on the construction of golf courses in Clark to ensure the steady supply of water in the province.
“While a robust economy is a goal and dream of every province through projects like this, its negative effects on the environment should not be put in the backburner, especially when millions of lives are at risk,” Lazatin said.
He added that the inquiry will center on why the project was approved despite alleged violations of environmental laws and other government policies.
“We want to know why it was approved and who approved it despite alleged violations of environmental laws which now threaten the watershed area and the water supply in the Metro Clark area,” Lazatin said.
Lazatin said he also wanted to confirm whether the ongoing project breaches boundaries of two ancestral domains in Bamban,Tarlac and Porac,Pampanga, resulting in the displacement of tribal families from the land of their ancestors.
Lazatin also said the project runs contrary to the Central Luzon Medium Regional Development Plan of 2011-2016, where it is stated that development will observe soil and water conservation of critical watersheds, biodiversity and forest production activities.
The project also counters a study conducted by Louis Berger International Inc. in 1997 of the Clark Special Economic Subzone Master Development Plan, where it is started that “one of the problems in the subzone watersheds is impaired watershed hydrology resulting in erratic water supply, water shortage and floods.”
The study also recommended the protection of watersheds, including second-growth forests, in the interest of watershed management and the conservation water quality for potential future water supply.
