City Hall taking away Manila Bay from us!

RECLAMATION STILL  ON: All the while we thought the plan to reclaim a choice section of Manila Bay near the United States embassy on Roxas Blvd. has been shelved. It turns out it is still being push quietly by City Hall.

The May elections are just four months away, but city officials led by Mayor Alfredo Lim are rushing the paperwork to reclaim an area jutting out 2.7 kilometers into the bay between the Manila Yacht Club and the US embassy.

The mayor has contracted a private firm to do it, disregarding RA 7586 that has included Manila Bay in the National Integrated Protected Areas System and other issuances protecting landscape and seascape of national significance.

The plan defies findings that Roxas Blvd. and other bayshore areas are sinking and suffering from the effects of excessive water extraction and the rise of the sea-level.

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FINANCIAL CENTER: On the strength of City Ordinance 8233 passed by the city council on June 6, 2011, Lim has contracted the Manila Gold Coast Corp. to reclaim the area for development into a mixed-used commercial project.

That ordinance amended Ordinance 7777, passed on Jan. 13, 1993, prohibiting any reclamation between the US embassy and the Cultural Center.

In a recent meeting with stakeholders and concerned citizens at the Arzobispado in Intramuros, Mayor Lim reportedly talked of putting up a 40-storey Financial Center building on the reclaimed area.

Months earlier, the mayor was also regaling the press with a similar plan for the Port Area where, he said, he planned to establish a Financial Center with a 101-floor signature building to rival a similar skyscraper in Taipei.

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ALLUVIAL SOIL: A Malaysian group of investors, he said, was behind the idea of a 101-floor structure dominating the proposed Financial Center at Port Area.

It was not clear if Lim’s plans had been approved by the Philippine Ports Authority, which owns the land. But Lim assured his listeners that he was going to get a clearance from President Noynoy Aquino.

Such a tall and heavy structure may not be able to stand on the alluvial soil at Port Area. Also, the irregular bedrock underneath will make the engineering of the foundation quite problematic.

Normally, the higher the edifice rises, the deeper its foundation goes for a firmer establishing hold.

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UTILITIES DEMAND: We have not ascertained the US embassy’s attitude toward the planned reclamation near it.

Manila Bay is one of the few remaining sites where nature’s exquisite beauty can still be viewed. Tour managers have used its sunsets to add to the allure of Manila once known as the Pearl of the Orient Seas.

What is City Hall’s action plan for meeting the massive requirement for utilities in the new commercial community — considering it has neglected the same needs of older sections of Manila?

The supply of water and power alone has not kept abreast of the rising demand of the metropolis that grows by itself despite the absence of an overall city development plan.

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LIQUEFACTION: The SOS Manila Bay Coalition opposing the plan warns of the massive water and power needed, on top of the worsening flood and sewage/drainage mess in the boulevard vicinity and the subsidence or the sinking of the land.

Some sections of buildings erected in a hurry during the Marcos regime on the Pasay City reclaimed area have been sinking and cracking. The damage requires recurring repair and has been a cause for anxiety.

With climate aberrations and the geophysical changes in the environment, it is not far-fetched that years from now the sea may just take back the land that had been hurriedly taken from it.

A Japanese government-funded Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Resolution Study has identified the coastal areas along Manila Bay as highest risk for liquefaction in likely earthquake scenarios.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology were partners in this study. All local governments concerned were given copies.

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SUBSIDENCE: Central to environmental issues is a study of Kelvin S. Rodolfo and Fernando P. Siringan (Blackwell Publishing, UK & USA) on land subsidence resulting from excessive extraction of groundwater. Its abstract says in part:

“Some Philippine government sectors have begun to recognize that the sea-level rise of one to three millimeters per year due to global warming is a cause of worsening floods around Manila Bay, but are oblivious to, or ignore, the principal reason: excessive groundwater extraction is lowering the land surface by several centimeters to more than a decimeter per year.

“Even if groundwater use is greatly reduced and enlightened land-use practices are initiated, natural deltaic subsidence and global sea-level rise will continue to aggravate flooding, although at substantially lower rates.”

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OPPOSITION: The protesting SOS Manila Bay Coalition includes Care for the Earth-Malate Catholic Church; Care for the Earth-Vicariate of Nuestra Senora de Guia; Alyansa ng Maralita ng Maynila Laban sa Reklamasyon ng Manila Bay;

Cultural Center of the Philippines; Heritage Conservation Society; Carlos Ortoll and 1818 Townhouse, Malate; Philippine Tour Operators Association; Paul Alcazaren; Marian Pastor Roces; ICOMOS Philippines; Old Manila Walks/Ivan Man Dy; Save Philippine Seas;

Ivan About Town/Ivan Anthony Henares; Dr. Fernando Zialcita; Day by Day Ministry; CCP Employees Association; Philippine High School for the Arts; Piano Teachers Guild; Kalikasan Party-List; Kabataan Party-List; Artist Welfare Foundation Inc.; National Theater Festival Network;

Printmakers Association of the Philippines; International Playwrights Essayists Novelists; Philippine Art Educators Association; Ugnayan ng Manunulat sa Pilipinas; Kutitap Storytellers Groups; Theater Actors’ Guild; CCP Resident Companies; Philstage; PATDAT; and Cinemalaya Filmmakers.

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RESEARCH: Past POSTSCRIPTs can be accessed at manilamail.com. Follow us via Twitter.com/@FDPascual. Send feedback to [email protected]