Build a sustainable future for all instead of Pasig River expressway — groups
MANILA, Philippines — Concerned citizens and organizations asked the government to stop the proposed Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) project and instead build a better and more sustainable future for Filipinos.
Groups opposing the project have been saying that the 19-kilometer elevated expressway's economic, environmental, health and heritage impacts will outweigh projected benefits.
They said that PAREX will exacerbate—not solve—the traffic congestion in Metro Manila and kill the Pasig River. The planned expressway is a project of conglomerate San Miguel Corp.
In a briefing on Wednesday, Greenpeace Philippines campaigner RJ Mallari said the project will affect the river’s role in improving climate resilience and will cause more flooding and hotter temperatures in the capital region.
PAREX is also seen to worsen noise and air pollution, making communities surrounding Pasig River less livable.
The six-lane elevated expressway will run along the banks of the river from Radial Road in Manila to C-6 in Taguig.
“We should not build a lot of roads, bridges and buildings. We need to build a better future for everyone, for our future, my future. That means taking care of the environment, homes and communities and combatting climate change,” Jefferson Estela, convenor of Youth Strike for Climate Philippines, said in Filipino.
Tina Paterno, president of the International Council of Monuments and Cities, said that building PAREX “will take us in the opposite direction of sustainable development.”
“We’re sacrificing our river to solve a traffic problem. Is this how we want out leaders to decide on solutions to other problems in the future?” Paterno said.
“There are many possible futures before us that are more pro-development. There are alternative futures with less traffic centered around people and the planet. Which future would your children want?” she added.
72 days
Advocates said they were caught off guard by the government’s approval of the P95-billion PAREX project, saying the period between the “first and only” public consultation and the groundbreaking ceremony last week was mere 72 days.
“We were shocked and disheartened when we learned that the contract between San Miguel and the government had been signed. There is no environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the project yet but it already broke ground,” Move as One Coalition member and former finance undersecretary Sunny Sevilla said partly in Filipino.
He added their questions on the project remain unanswered.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which issues ECCs for projects, held a public scoping on July 14. During the event, mobility, environmental and heritage organizations registered their concerns over the planned expressway.
Despite opposition from groups and concerned citizens, the Toll Regulatory Board, together with the Department of Transportation, signed the Supplemental Toll operations agreement with SMC on September 21.
Three days later, the DOTR and the SMC held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project.
SMC President Ramon Ang on Wednesday defended PAREX and called the opposition to the project a “part of an orchestrated and continuing demolition job to paint the project as the opposite of what it truly is.”
In response, Move as One Coalition convenor Robert Siy said dropping PAREX and pursuing river rehabilitation and sustainable travel alternatives are “much better” options.
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