This is a story of two western Pangasinan towns which, years ago, both rejected multi-billion peso cement plant complexes proposed by international consortium of companies.

Bolinao and Agno made it to national and international map when their residents bitterly fought protracted wars against the factories that would have entombed in cement their scenic towns. They were not alone in the fight, though, as environmentalists and marine scientists from all over the country and even the world backed them up in shooing away the investors.

It was Bolinao – a town gifted with pristine beaches, caves, waterfalls, verdant hills, islands, crystal-clear rivers and eight thousand hectares of coral reefs in the Lingayen Gulf – which first caught the eyes of the foreign investors. The Tuntex Group of Companies of Taiwan and their Filipino and Japanese partners, proposed in 1992 a P13-billion peso package of a cement factory, a coal-fired power plant, a quarry area, a wharf and a 10-km conveyor belt.

Most residents were not swayed by the promises of employment and development of the proponents. They bonded themselves together and explained to their townmates what were at stake – the town itself and its God-given resources. They said "no" to the plant. The war lingered on for years until finally, on August 6, 1996, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued a rejection of the plant’s environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

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