Manny Palmero
The Department of Environment and Natural Resource said Thursday all 22 reclamation projects in Manila Bay are under review and are deemed suspended —even the one that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned was allowed to continue.
“Actually, upon clarification with the President and you will see in the suspension, all are under review,” DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said in a press briefing in Malacañang.
Meanwhile, a lawmaker said the public interest must come first as the government reviews “a mountain of reclamation applications” for the Manila Bay area and
their ecological impact that may affect future generations.
President Marcos earlier this week said all reclamation projects in Manila Bay except one have been suspended due to problems in their implementation but did not say what the exception was.
“Until we can get a very good sense of what scientifically is going to happen in this area, and until we can get a very good sense of how the rule of law can be followed in this area, we want to proceed with much caution,” Yulo-Loyzaga said.
“The declaration is really that all of these projects are suspended at this point. So all are under review, we have to take our time, really beginning with those that are ongoing because they’re in fact already impacting the areas and then we will graduate to all those in fact still not yet begun,” Loyzaga said in a Palace press briefing.
Meanwhile, House Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto said:
“Every policy has a reverse gear. By pausing Manila Bay reclamation activities, the President, as of the moment, merely placed it on neutral.”
“It is safe to assume that this is not in Manila Bay alone – the dumped sand you see there is just the tip of the iceberg – but all over the country,” Recto said in a statement.
The congressman cited data from the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), which details reclamation projects all over the country covering about 25,120 hectares, or 433 times the size of Luneta. Recto said public interest must apply not only to current populations but also to future generations, as the ecological impact may include flooding of low-lying communities.
On Wednesday, President Marcos said all reclamation projects—save one—were all pending government review. “If they all [the reclamation projects] push through, many rivers will be clogged, including the ones emptying into Manila Bay. The water will have nowhere to go. Even on Roxas Boulevard, the sea will disappear,” the President said.
Meanwhile, the fishers group Pamalakaya urged the United States embassy to oppose the reclamation projects, not only in Manila Bay but also around the country, as it is one of the many structures that will be affected by further reclamation in the bay.
“If the US embassy is genuinely concerned about the marine environment, it should express opposition against every single reclamation project in Manila Bay and throughout the country, instead of just singling out a specific project that involves a Chinese firm and threatens its security protocols,” they said in a statement.
“We have expressed concerns about the potential negative long-term and irreversible impacts to the environment, the resilience to natural hazards of Manila and nearby areas and to commerce,” US embassy spokesman Kanishka Gangopadhyay said earlier this week. Pamalakaya said 187 reclamation projects in the country cover more than 25,000 hectares of fishing waters.
The DENR said it has been conducting cumulative impact assessments on the reclamation projects to demonstrate their effects on Manila Bay.
At least three senators have welcomed Marcos’ decision, including Senate environment and natural resources committee chairperson Cynthia Villar, who earlier warned that the reclamation projects in Manila Bay may cause six- to eight-meter flooding in Las Piñas and other nearby areas.
During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Villar said Loyzaga is “afraid” of the influential people who are pushing for the reclamation projects in Manila Bay. But during Thursday’s Palace briefing, Loyzaga said she is not “easily scared.”
“I don’t know many of you but you can ask the people who do know me, I’m not easily scared,” Loyzaga said. She said she believed Villar made the remark out of concern and thanked the senator.
“This is Senator Villar’s, I guess statement of concern regarding this very complicated issue. I’m very grateful for our interaction. Senator Cynthia and I have been conversing very deeply on this issue of reclamation and environmental impacts,” she said.
Loyzaga said the administration understands the “intersection” between sustainable development and the environment.
“The role of DENR here is to stay within our mandate, we do have a mandate under the mandamus which is to rehabilitate Manila Bay to the point where people can actually swim and fish and that is an order we take very seriously,” she added.
In the House, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo filed a resolution seeking a probe on the status of the Manila Bay reclamation projects.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), meanwhile, admitted it was not being consulted on any reclamation projects in the country.
DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan made the remarks during a Senate hearing, saying that there should be a “coordinated effort” when it comes to reclamation activities.
However, the Public Works chief could not provide any answers on the ongoing reclamation projects in the country, admitting that the department did not initiate any technical assessment on these projects.
“Technically…there’s nothing wrong with reclamation for as long as it will not impede the flow of the rivers going out of the bay because the bay is a very large body of water,” Bonoan told senators during Wednesday’s hearing.
He said there should be a coordinated effort among local government officials and the department to solve flooding.
Earlier, the Philippine Reclamation Authority said at least 22 applications for reclamation projects had been processed so far, with some of them securing approval, or up for implementation and subject to compliance.
Previously, the United States Embassy, which is located near Manila Bay, expressed its concern regarding the potential long-term and irreversible impact on the environment.
The US Embassy also warned about a Chinese company’s involvement in land reclamation projects, citing the company’s ties with the militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea.