Economic boost

Two Las Piñas City councilors have asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to finally give the green light to the much-delayed P103.8-billion Las Piñas-Parañaque Coastal Bay Reclamation Project.

Councilor Mark Anthony Santos said that the clearance to proceed with the project remained unissued despite an en banc decision by the Supreme Court in October 2021 that approved the reclamation of around 530 hectares of the Manila Bay coastline in Las Piñas-Parañaque.

Voting 11-2 in favor of the reclamation project, the High Court said that the supposed threat to the environment was not sufficiently established and that the volumes of data generated by objective and expert analyses ruled out the scientific uncertainty of the nature and scope of the anticipated threat.

Alltech Contractors proposed the project to reclaim 321.26 hectares of land in Las Piñas and 174.88 hectares in Parañaque, both along the coastline of Manila Bay, way back in 2009 and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) approved the project the following year subject to compliance with environmental rules.

According to news reports, Alltech submitted an amended environmental performance report management plan (EPRMP) in December 2010 and expanded the project to cover 203.43 hectares in Parañaque and 431.71 hectares in Las Piñas or a total of around 635 hectares.

The SC upheld a decision of the Court of Appeals that junked a petition for the issuance of a writ of kalikasan filed by Sen. Cynthia Villar.

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) issued the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the project in March 2011 after Alltech submitted scientific and expert studies that assessed the potential flooding and flushing impact from the coastal bay project.

Santos pointed out that the SC ruling suggested that the Las Piñas city government may proceed with the reclamation project despite residents’ objections.

He said that the cities of Las Pinñs and Parañaque have accepted Alltech’s proposal and the parties executed their respective joint venture agreements.

In its 2021 decision, the SC said that the ECC issued in 2011 for the project has not automatically expired, despite delays attributed to the legal challenge.

The High Tribunal stated that, contrary to petitioner’s claim, the country’s participation in international agreements, such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, does not prohibit the reclamation of land adjacent to designated wetlands.

The SC also gave weight to Alltech’s EPRMP which promised that discharge channels are sufficiently provided to serve as the drainage outfall.

Santos noted that the petitioners failed to provide sufficient evidence of environmental harm, even as he debunked the claim that the project could lead to disastrous flooding, especially with the onset of sea level rise as an effect of climate change.

He pointed out that as a matter of fact, the reclamation project will protect the coastal zone from the effects of climate change.

The large-scale project aims to create mixed-use land for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes, with new infrastructure developments such as roads and bridges to support the area.

Santos added that he was informed by Alltech that it was ready to start the project but was just awaiting Malacañang’s endorsement and the notice to proceed.

For his part, another Las Piñas councilor, Henry Medina, stressed that there is no politics involved here since this is national concern.

The multi-billion reclamation project is envisioned to generate new land for the development of commercial, industrial, institutional and residential properties necessary for the economic growth of the host city, he said.

Deferred election sought

The Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP) has expressed its full support to a Senate bill that would reset the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to May 11, 2026.

Senate Bill 2862 will amend Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

The conduct of the first regular elections for the Bangsamoro government under the BOL was initially set in 2022 but was later moved to next year.

However, last September, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Province of Sulu vs. Salvador Medialdea, where it declared that the inclusion of the Province of Sulu in the BARMM is invalid.

The Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) enacted in March of last year the Bangsamoro Electoral Code (BEC) to govern the conduct of parliamentary elections in the BARMM. Under the BEC, the allocation of parliamentary seats for regional political parties is determined by proportional representation based on the Bangsamoro territorial jurisdiction.

As for parliamentary districts, apportionment was left to the determination by the BTA to ensure equitable representation in the Bangsamoro.

The BTA Parliament then enacted the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Districts Act of 2024 which apportioned BARRM into 32 single-member parliamentary districts of which Sulu had seven.

According to the OSAP, the exclusion by the SC of Sulu gives rise to several legal issues, including the composition of the BARMM parliament and the reapportionment of parliamentary districts.

It said that given the statutory standard on the votes garnered by political parties and the population ought to be represented via parliamentary districts, the exclusion of Sulu from the BARMM substantially alters the mandatory composition of 80 members of the Bangsamoro Parliament under the BOL. The said exclusion also has an indirect effect on the formula for the required number of sectoral representatives whose base is 80, it added.

The OSAP, headed by Secretary Antonio Lagdameo Jr., pointed out that there is a need for a new enabling autonomy act for redistricting to reflect Sulu’s exclusion from the BARMM and to ensure the required proportional representation among the remaining districts.

It said that without an amendatory redistricting act reflecting such change, the Comelec will have no basis for conducting the parliamentary elections since the current redistricting act still includes Sulu.

The OSAP added that the lack of material time before the 2025 election makes the passage of an amendatory act unlikely at best.