The Burning Question ILIGAN CITY, Philippines--Public opposition to the installation of an American incineration plant here is mounting. In a public hearing at the city hall on October 8, 1987, 500 people gathered to demand that the project be scrapped for health and environmental reasons. Opponents say the benefits being promised by the project developer, LPT Development Inc., an American firm based in U.S. Samoa, are nothing compared to the hazards. Although the U.S. firm did not send a representative to the jammed hearing, in a statement last July, LPT said that the proposed incinerator aims at "minimizing if not eliminating totally the effects of toxic waste and toxic waste materials in US Samoa, the continental US, and the Far East, including the Philippines." The Iligan City government, which was criticized for hastily approving the project installation, called the public hearing to review its position. Sources said that the project, which has already been endorsed by both the city government and Local Governments Assistant Secretary Saidanen Dangarunan, is now waiting for approval from President Corazon Aquino. LPT Development, through its chairman Rey Bajadi, promised the people of Iligan City that it would, among other things, employ 3,000 people, provide foreign exchange earnings and supply electricity. And should the incinerator be approved, it would offer the community the prestige of having a "new pioneering industry." But Prof. Lolita A. Daral-Ungui, an environmental engineer at the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), dismissed the benefits. Daral-Ungui said the 3,000 people that will be hired by the project "may be only in the construction phase." She said that the Vendermole Disposal Process Enterprises, the biggest incinerator in the United States, with a capacity of 10,000 tons of waste per month, employees only 30 people. Other plants hire an average of four people, according to Ungui. And physics professor Ciriaco Gillera of the Mindanao State University noted that hydro-electric plants in Lanao generate power at an average cost of $0.02 per kilowatt hour, compared to the $0.30 per kilowatt hours to be generated by the proposed incinerator plant. Iligan City is near six operating hydro-electric plants and another two nearby are on standby. The power generated by only four of the plants already exceeds the needs of Mindanao's industries and households. A seventh plant is under construction. Moreover, Chemistry Professor Zenaida Ochotorena said the incinerator would cause significant health and environmental problems for the city. Ochotorena said the plant, an attempt by the United States to rid itself of the toxic wastes that are currently contaminating more than 2000 communities there, would be emitting a highly toxic plume that could contaminate the whole community. -By Melvin Uy/Third World Network Feature/Philippine News and Features.