According to Environment Secretary Maria Antonio-Yulo Loyzaga, all 22 reclamation projects in Manila Bay are suspended and will be undergoing review.
Loyzaga explained that how long the projects would be suspended would depend on the results of the cumulative impact assessment to be conducted by a scientific team that will be engaged by the DENR.
The suspension includes the project being undertaken by Waterfront Manila Premier Development Inc. (WMPDI) which is the 318-hectare Manila Waterfront City Reclamation Project.
The US Embassy in Manila had earlier raised concerns over the project, not only because of its impact on the environment, specifically flooding and traffic, and possible national security risks due to its distance to the embassy, but also due to the involvement of China Communications Construction Co. which the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank said had been engaged in fraudulent business practices.
Some of these reclamation projects have all the requisite clearances while there are those that do not have environmental permits and other regular requirements. Some are ongoing while others have yet to begin. At least one started the works even before the notice to proceed has been given by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA). Some are being undertaken by respected business groups while others are projects of companies without an established track record.
According to the DENR, three of these reclamation projects in Metro Manila are ongoing or were being implemented before the suspension order while the rest were either set for signing of memorandum of agreement or were still in the application stage.
The DENR chief pointed out that what happened here was that individual projects were somehow processed without taking into consideration the cumulative impact of all the projects together.
For one, there is the mandamus issued by the Supreme Court in 2008 ordering 13 agencies including the DENR to clean up, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay and restore and maintain its waters to a level fit for commercial propagation of shellfish and milkfish, as well as for swimming, skin diving, and other forms of recreation. The areas covered by the mandamus encompass LGUs from Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan/
For its part, PRA assistant general manager Joseph Literal said that the government had approved only 13 reclamation projects in Manila Bay and 22 projects nationwide. Only 15 of the reclamation projects are in Metro Manila while the rest are in Calabarzon.
But PRA data have revealed that 52 reclamation projects had been approved across the country, including the 22 projects in the Manila Bay area.
According to Literal, it is the PRA which has the authority to greenlight reclamation projects after making sure that all requirements have been obtained, most important of which are the environmental compliance certificate and the area clearance issued by the DENR.
The Manila Bay projects, he added, are all public-private partnership projects of the local government units so that it is the concerned LGU who applies for a reclamation permit for a project with the PRA. These LGUs include the cities of Manila, Navotas, Las Pinas, Paranaque and Pasay in Metro Manila, and the cities of Bacoor and Cavite in Calabarzon.
Literal said that the approved reclamation projects cover less than five percent of Manila Bay so it is not true that the Bay is disappearing. The 22 reclamation projects cover 6,780 hectares of the 200,000 hectare Bay area.
So let me get this clear…. If the PRA only issues the green light for a reclamation project after all the requisite permits and clearances, and that includes those from the DENR, have been obtained by the proponent which is the LGU concerned, then it is actually government’s fault if some of these 22 projects are non-compliant. Bottomline is some of these projects were not properly vetted by the government agencies tasked to do this.
But in fairness to the PRA, DENR and the different LGUs concerned, there was really no clear-cut policy on reclamation in the Manila Bay area by the government, until of course the US Embassy raised howl over the Waterfront project.
Loyzaga herself acknowledges the fact that reclamation could serve a beneficial purpose, citing as successful examples much of the city of Rotterdam, new land for transportation infrastructure and urban expansion in Boston, and even the areas of Intramuros, Luneta and the CCP Complex in Manila and Pasay which are reclaimed. The DENR also noted that reclamation drives economic activities and generates revenues for the government.
Singapore itself has been reclaiming land since the colonial times. Its first reclamation took place in 1822 at the south bank of the Singapore River. Since then, Singapore’s land has expanded by almost 25 percent because of reclamation. And no doubt that reclamation has played a huge part in achieving Singapore’s economic success.
This blanket suspension of all reclamation projects in Manila Bay once again dampened our country’s hopes of attracting more investments to revitalize our economy.
And why is that?
We cannot just change our rules midstream. Investors make their plans, build their businesses around a given set of rules and assumptions, and that includes government policies and regulations in the host country. Uncertainty in terms of government regulations and changing rules midstream has always been a complaint raised by the investment community against the Philippines.
Just take a look at our investors and locators in Clark who have been promised a given set of business incentives and perks when they invested here and who are now complaining because while the CREATE Act provided for a 10-year sunset provision, the BIR and the implementing rules of the law have effectively immediately stopped the enjoyment of these tax incentives and other fiscal perks.
Another good example is our policy on open-pit mining. One moment it’s banned nationwide by the DENR, then here comes the next administration saying that the ban is lifted. The ban is of course due to bad practices by unscrupulous small miners.
The DENR cannot make all these investments and investors wait. Our government cannot change the rules just like that without taking into account the impact on our business environment. I haven’t even started discussing the contractual breaches that will be committed due to this suspension of reclamation activities in Manila Bay.
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