PRA says reclamation projects are harmful to the environment

Reclamation projects in Manila Bay and elsewhere in the country are harmful to the environment, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) said during a hearing of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development.

Discussed during the hearing are the planned reclamation projects in Manila bay, which is currently undergoing rehabilitation by the government.

Former Manila Mayor and now Buhay party-list Representative Lito Atienza asked PRA officials if the reclamation projects would have an environmental impact.

“Meron po,” PRA Assistant General Manager for Reclamation Joseph Literal said.

President Rodrigo Duterte recently issued an executive order giving back to the PRA the power to approve reclamation projects and transferred the agency under the Office of the President.

Out of the 22 reclamation applications, which will cover 22,000 of the 199,000-hectare shoreline of Manila Bay, the PRA has already approved four.

Last November, the local governments of the City of Manila and Pasay signed a memorandum of agreement with Manila Goldcoast Development Corp. (MGDC), SM Prime Holdings Inc.; and the Pasay Harbor City consortium for at least four reclamation projects in Manila Bay.

The reclamation projects include:

• MGDC-Manila local government 148-hectare Solar City Project

• Southern parcel of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road and Reclamation Project-North Sector

• Pasay LGU’s joint venture with SM Prime Holdings Inc. for 300 hectares and 60 hectares

• Pasay Harbor City consortium-Pasay LGU’s 265-hectare Pasay Harbor City project

The MOA, signed by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto, states that the parties agree to exert “utmost effort to cooperate with each other and extend mutual assistance in connection with their separate partnerships with private groups to reclaim huge swathes of the Manila Bay, to generate valuable coastal real estate as well as provide employment and other economic opportunities in the two premier coastal cities in Metro Manila.”

Another company was seeking to reclaim 318 hectares along the shores of Manila Bay for a multibillion-peso mixed-use development called the Manila Waterfront City.

“The coastal configuration of this 318-hectare island is adjusted away from the original Roxas Boulevard shoreline to become compliment to the old waterfront,” Waterfront Manila Premier Development Inc. chairman Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. told reporters during a press conference at the Manila City Hall in October 2017.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao noted another reclamation project in Navotas is the Navotas Boulevard Business Park.

The PRA told Casilao during Monday’s hearing that 22 reclamation projects in the pipeline cover around 20,000 hectares.

“Out of the 22, the 360-hectare Pasay reclamation project, the 140-hectare Solar City project and the Navotas Boulevard Business Park have already been approved by the PRA and complied with the DENR process. The PRA also divulged that there are 120 proposed reclamation projects in the whole country,”  the party-list lawmaker noted.

Literal said the groups behind the projects are exerting efforts to minimize environmental harm. “Meron naman silang kasing mga ginawang sistema para ma-menos ‘yung effect sa environment.”

Local government units were mostly the applicants for the reclamation projects of which most are commercial in nature.

“Outside Metro Manila, halos lahat ‘yan ay mixed-use with port developments. ‘Yun ang marami outside Metro Manila, which is commercial together with port,” Literal said.

Atienza noted there seems to be a “reclamation craze” in the country, where investors would invest small but make “super” profit out of the projects.

“If you provide the approval for all these applications, masisira ‘yung ating natural landscape which is one of the main attractions of our country. Have you considered this at all? Ano ang inyong ginagamit na pamantayan?”

Atienza lamented that in most of the hearings on reclamation projects he attended, only the benefits were discussed and not much of the environmental impact.

“Wala akong na-attendan … where we heard experts on the environment and oppositors to the destruction of our environment ... The PRA is more inclined to approving rather than disapproving,” he said.

“I cannot see any advantage of reclamation as far as people are concerned, ordinary citizens, and the future of this nation in relation to the beautiful environment,” he added.

The Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives has filed a bill seeking to declare Manila Bay a “reclamation-free” zone.

Malacañang, however,  said reclamation projects will generate income for the government. —VDS, GMA News