An international environmental group has urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to stop all the approved Manila Bay reclamation projects.
***(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO\JUAN CARLO DE VELA)***
This came after Environment Secretary Maria Antonia “Toni” Yulo-Loyzaga said the DENR is conducting a cumulative impact assessment in the said reclamation project.
In a statement, Oceana backed the US Embassy’s position on the reclamation project as the group raised concerns on its “potential negative long-term and irreversible impacts to the environment, the resilience to natural hazards of Manila and nearby areas, and to commerce.”
“Time is of the essence. The DENR cannot be reviewing all these projects without exercising precaution,” lawyer Rose Liza Eisma-Osorio, Oceana’s acting vice president, said.
“It is clear that these projects have already started, and resulted to an alarming degradation of the environment destroying the mangroves, denying fisherfolk of their fishing livelihood and sources of food, and the destruction of seagrass and the seabed by dredging, thus impeding better habitats and spawning grounds of fisheries resources. This is simply unjust and unacceptable,” she went on.
Oceana said Loyzaga should not waste time in adopting the international standard on evaluating environmentally critical projects, such as, reclamation, seabed quarrying, offshore mining, among others.
“Proposed projects, such as dump-and-fill must be thoroughly assessed and closely monitored to determine their inherent risks to environment, climate, culture, and health, especially of local communities," she said.
"Anyone who violates environmental impact assessment laws and regulations that are already in place faces administrative, civil, or criminal sanctions. It is even more disheartening to see our coastal communities, particularly the artisanal fisherfolk and their families being displaced from their food and livelihood even before the project was approved,” she added.
Data revealed by Oceana showed that the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) listed 52 reclamation projects in the country, including the project in Coron that has been forfeited by the government, as of Feb. 28.
“Of this number, 22 projects are located in Manila Bay, and half of these or 11 are already underway. Outside of Manila Bay, the PRA lists a total of 30 projects – 14 were approved plus Coron; and 15 applications under Executive Order 74 with memoranda of understanding,” Oceana stated.
The group noted that the projects were approved even though Manila Bay has been identified as a Key Biodiversity Area by the DENR and other groups.
“It is a rich sardine spawning ground as shown by the data from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-National Fisheries Research and Development Institute. It is also a stopover for millions of migratory birds from the northern hemisphere,” it stressed.