DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga (Screenshot from YouTube live)

The halted reclamation projects in Manila Bay weren't in line with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' (DENR) rehabilitation of the bay. 

Thus, bared DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga before the House Committee on Appropriations, which on Wednesday, Aug. 16 tackled the agency’s proposed budget for 2024. 

During the appropriations panel briefing, OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino asked Yulo-Loyzaga about the activities of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) in Manila Bay and how it affects its supposed rehabilitation. 

"Yun pong ating project is to have clean water pero ang ginagawa po ng PRA ay sila po ay nagtatambak for the reclamation. So parang contradicting po nahihilo po tayo ano po ba dapat ang gawin?" Magsino said. 

(Our project is to have clean water but the PRA has been piling up dirt for the reclamation. So it appears contradicting and its confusing, what should be done about it?)"In our view, there is a contradiction between the reclamation and the rehabilitation of the [Manila] bay, if a cumulative impact assessment is not conducted to mitigate the possible impacts of the changes in the environment that the reclamation may actually cause," Yulo-Loyzaga told the solon. 

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. had ordered a pause to the reclamation projects following the airing of public concern over the activities at the historic bay. 

"The intention of the suspension for review is to actually conduct what is called the cumulative impact assessment, which means that instead of evaluating each and every project proposal individually, there will now be an effort to create a situation or a scenario where in all these reclamation projects will actually occur and what impact that would be in the baseline condition of Manila bay as we know it today," said Yulo-Loyzaga. 

There are 22 suspended reclamation projects in Manila Bay.