Salceda says reclamation important for development, pivotal for revenue generation

A lawmaker on Thursday urged the government to allow reclamation activities to push through, with trillions of land sales set to be generated from projects in Manila Bay currently suspended.

Citing the Philippine Reclamation Authority, House committee on ways and means chairman and Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda said the suspended projects could raise P23 trillion in land sales.

“We emphasize the importance of land reclamation in the development of large metropolitan cities situated along coastlines, as demonstrated by the notable success stories of Tokyo Bay, Singapore, and Hong Kong,” he said.

“Land reclamation stands as a pivotal avenue for revenue generation, eliminating the necessity of tax hikes, and yet remains underutilized,” he said during a hearing with stakeholders of the 14 stalled projects.

During the hearing, Pasay City administrator Peter Manzano — who attended on behalf of Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto — said the national and local governments stand to gain 131.25 hectares of saleable reclaimed land with an estimated value of over P650 billion once fully developed.

“During horizontal development and commercial operations, private developers, investors, and business establishments at the projects could easily generate over a million jobs, including those related to construction, business process outsourcing, retail, banking, hotels and restaurants, and the like,” he said.

He also called for partnership with the private sector, which he said would “create economic multipliers” through income and value-added taxes for the national government, and real property taxes and business taxes for the city.

The Pasay City estimates some P1.3 trillion from national taxes from reclamation-related investments and businesses, and P1.1 trillion in real property and business taxes for the local government.

This comes as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier suspended all 21 reclamation projects in Manila Bay but one already reviewed, pending the results of a cumulative impact assessment (CIA).

The decision was welcomed by a number of lawmakers, including Senate environment and natural resources committee chairperson Cynthia Villar, who earlier warned that such projects could cause six to eight-meter flooding in Las Piñas and nearby areas.

The United States Embassy in Manila — situated by the Manila Bay — also earlier expressed concerns over reclamation projects, and the involvement of a Chinese construction firm blacklisted by Washington.?

For her part, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga in August cited the importance of reclamation projects in improving the economy, but the impact on ecology should also be considered.—Jon Viktor Cabuenas/AOL, GMA Integrated News