SMC urged to withdraw permit applications for PAREX, halt other expressway plans
MANILA, Philippines — Environmental, heritage and mobility advocates called on the San Miguel Corporation (SMC) to scrap its toll deal and environmental permit application for the planned Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) after the conglomerate’s chief announced the project is no longer pushing through.
The Ilog Pasiglahin movement welcomed the statement of SMC President and CEO Ramon Ang that his company is abandoning plans for the 19-kilometer elevated expressway.
“[It is] a win for the Pasig River and its communities,” the Ilog Pasiglahin movement said in a statement Monday.
Ang said that public opposition led the conglomerate to drop the project pitched as a solution to address the traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
“Sinasabi [ng] maraming tao na ayaw nila ‘yan. Laban sa kalooban nila, hindi magandang tingnan or whatever. Narinig mo kung tinuloy ko? Hindi na. Kasi very sensitive din kami. Nakikinig kami sa pulso ng bayan,” Ang was quoted in media reports as saying.
(People say they don't want it, against their will, it doesn't look good or whatever. Did you hear if I pursued it? No. Because we're also very sensitive. We listen to the pulse of the nation.)
Advocates from the Move as One Coalition earlier argued that PAREX, which was proposed to run along the banks of Pasig River, “will deliver little or no benefit while causing significant harm.”
Critics of the project stressed it will exacerbate—not solve—metro’s traffic congestion as increased road capacity can induce demand, meaning more people will be encouraged to drive.
They also said that PAREX will worsen air pollution, increase temperature in the capital region, damage heritage structures, and further degrade Pasig River.
To formally cancel the project, the Ilog Pasiglahin movement demanded the SMC to revoke the expressway’s Supplemental Toll Operation Agreement (STOA) with the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).
It added that the conglomerate should withdraw their Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) application with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and scrap their permit applications and resolutions with local governments.
‘Cancel other projects, too’
The Ilog Pasiglahin movement said that if SMC were truly committed to saving Pasig River, it must also cancel the portion of the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (SEMME) that will be constructed along the easternmost part of the river from Buting in Pasig City to Taytay in Rizal.
It also urged SMC to scrap the portion of the Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX) that will be built around the Manila Bay Port Area, Intramuros, and the Hospicio de San Jose in Manila near the Pasig River.
Advocates pointed out that these proposed expressways, if continued without modification, “will also bring the same disastrous impacts of PAREX” to the environment, heritage structures, and local communities.
“Whatever happens to the Pasig River also affects its connected bodies of water—Manila Bay, Laguna de Bay, Marikina River, San Juan River, Taguig River, and many others And any destructive activity in those areas–reclamation, deforestation, and expressway construction–will also affect the Pasig River,” Ilog Pasiglahin said.
“SMC must withdraw all PAREX permits and immediately stop all their environmentally destructive projects within the Manila Bay-Laguna de Bay area and beyond to truly protect nature,” it added.
Ilog Pasiglahin also called on the government to issue policies disallowing river and coastal expressways as well as to review current projects such as the SALEX, SEMME, and the C5 Southlink Expressway, also known as the Marikina River Expressway.
SMC is set to take over the operations and maintenance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as it builds the New Manila International Airport along Manila Bay, another project that scientists and environmentalists warned would destroy important ecosystems.
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