Review of reclamation projects sought

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Cynthia Villar yesterday sought a review of the powers given to the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to approve reclamation projects.

Villar said the PRA has approved a National Reclamation Program (NRP) covering 102 reclamation projects over a total area of 38,272 hectares within Manila Bay, the Visayas and Mindanao.

She cited studies that reclamation projects are environmentally unsound and potentially dangerous to residents.

According to Villar, 38 of the total 102 reclamation projects under the NRP will involve 26,234 hectares in Manila Bay alone.

“That is 70 percent of the entire NRP. They are building another Metro Manila in Manila Bay,” she said.

Villar called for a moratorium on reclamation projects under the NRP adopted by the People’s Summit on Reclamation held in October 2012 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City which was attended by experts from relevant fields.

“They said NRP was adopted without a genuine stakeholders consultation, in gross violation of the right of citizens to participate in decision making, without rigorous scientific assessment of the environmental risks and impacts by reclamation projects, and without transparency in concerned government agencies,” she said.

Citing studies, Villar said the NRP threatens to affect an equivalent of one-tenth of coastal and marine habitats and could potentially translate to a loss of value of nearly P30 billion per year in seagrass goods and ecosystems alone.

“Land reclamation is noted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as an irreversible form of environmental degradation, thus running counter to the State’s guarantee to provide its citizens with a ‘healthful and balanced ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature’ and ‘protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities’,” she said.