Supreme Court issues 'writ of kalikasan' vs Manila Bay reclamation project

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a “writ of kalikasan” on a petition seeking to stop a P14-billion plan to reclaim land in Manila Bay coastline covering the cities of Las Piñas, Parañaque and Bacoor in Cavite.

In a session in Baguio City last Tuesday, the justices of the high court voted to issue the writ and require the government to answer the petition filed by former Las Piñas representative Cynthia Villar.

Respondents in the case – the Public Reclamation Authority (PRA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), city government of Las Piñas and Alltech Contractors Inc. (Alltech) – were given 10 days from receipt of notice to comply with the order.

The SC, however, did not issue a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) sought by the petitioner to enjoin government agencies from proceeding with the project that would cover 635.14 hectares in submerged land.

In her petition filed last March 16, Villar submitted to the high tribunal signatures of 315,849 Las Piñas residents and findings of a hydrological services consultant she tapped in support of her petition.

She argued that the project would cause massive flooding in 65 coastal barangays.

She cited a report of Tricore Solutions Inc. (Tricore), which predicted that the implementation of the project will result in the inundation of several barangays in Bacoor, Las Piñas and Parañaque under more than five meters of floodwater.

Through her counsel former solicitor general Frank Chavez, Villar cited as another ground the possible devastation and irreparable damage the project would cause to the environment.

She warned that the project would destroy one of Metro Manila’s last nature reserves and bird sanctuaries, referring to the Las Piñas-Parañaque Coastal Lagoon and three mangrove-clad islands that serve as home for dozens of bird species.

Environmentalists had called it “last coastal frontier in Metro Manila.”