‘Reviews would be slow and deliberate’
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr.’s decision to suspend reclamation projects in Manila Bay has affected 22 projects that were approved under the previous administration, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said yesterday.
They are now indefinitely suspended pending a review of their compliance with the requirements and conditions stated in their environmental permits along with the ongoing impact assessment of the projects, according to Yulo-Loyzaga.
She could not say for certain until when the suspension would be in effect, adding it would depend on the results of the review of the different company’s compliance with the conditions set under their environmental clearance certificate (ECC) and area clearances as well as the conclusion of the community impact assessment on the effects of the project on the environment, among others, while the project is ongoing and once it is completed.
She said the suspension took effect as soon as the President announced the suspension during a situational briefing in Bulacan early this week.
Marcos said all reclamation projects in Manila Bay have been suspended except for one due to some problems in their implementation. He did not say which projects were suspended and what was not suspended.
Yulo-Loyzaga said the assessment will be a trans-disciplinary work that will get inputs from social scientists and the communities affected.
“The declaration is really that all of these projects are suspended at this point. So, all are under review. We have to take our time beginning with those that are ongoing because they’re already impacting the areas and then we will graduate to those that are in fact, still not yet begun,” she said during a briefing.
Yulo-Loyzaga said the reviews would be slow and deliberate to ensure that all projects are within the bounds of the law.
Yulo-Loyzaga said the assessment team will be formed within the month and include physical scientists, oceanographers, geologists, climate scientists, and social scientists, among others.
“We intend to provide a program of work, once they have all met together. This is not simple. Community Impact Assessment involves drivers; it involves feedback and it involves many different disciplines,” she added.
She said prior to the suspension, the DENR has started a review of the compliance of the companies conducting the reclamation activities.
She said it is the mandate of the DENR, along with 13 other government agencies, under a mandamus issued by the Supreme Court to rehabilitate Manila Bay to a “point where people can actually swim and fish, and that is an order we take very seriously.
“Now, if we are to do what we have been obligated to do by the Supreme Court, we need to do the review of these projects,” she stressed.
Lawmakers had welcomed the suspension of the projects, including Senate environment and natural resources committee chairwoman Cynthia Villar, who earlier warned the reclamation projects in Manila Bay may cause six to eight-meter flooding in Las Piñas and nearby areas.
She also said that Yulo-Loyzaga was “afraid” of the influential people who are pushing for the reclamation projects in Manila Bay.
The DENR chief said Villar was just concerned but she is not “easily scared.”
“I’m very grateful to Senator Villar for her concern. But we are here to do our job. And we will do it slowly but deliberately because we want to make sure that we stay within the bounds of the law,” Yulo-Loyzaga said.
The United States Embassy in the Philippines had recently raised concerns about the long-term and irreversible impact on the environment of the reclamation activities in Manila Bay.
It also raised concerns about the involvement of a Chinese construction firm that had been blacklisted by the US for its involvement in the construction and militarizing of artificial islands put up by the Chinese in the South China Sea.
Yulo-Loyzaga said their focus on the environmental aspect and the hiring or approval of companies involved in the projects is up to the local government units (LGUs).
CLEAN-UP DRIVE
More than 130 tons of garbage and silt have been collected by clean-up crews of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority on the shores of Manila Bay, including the controversial “dolomite beach,” from July 1 to August 5.
The agency said the 138 tons included waste materials carried by floodwaters during the heavy downpour brought by typhoons Egay and Falcon that struck the country weeks ago.
From August 1 to August 5 alone, MMDA personnel collected and hauled 192.56 cubic meters of garbage, equivalent to 54.7 tons, or seven truckloads.
The DENR-Environmental Management Bureau said the Philippines generates 61,000 metric tons of solid waste on a daily basis, of which 12 to 14 percent is plastic waste. The majority come from Metro Manila’s 17 local government units.
It said that Filipinos utilize more than 163 million plastic sachets, 48 million shopping bags, and over 45 million thin-film bags daily.
The MMDA reiterated its appeal to the public to stop throwing garbage on the streets and waterways and to practice recycling and segregation.
It said that garbage thrown haphazardly always ends up in waterways, blocking the flow of rainwater and affecting the operation of the agency’s pumping stations, which pump floodwaters from esteros and canals.
“In our continuing clean-up operations, we reiterate our appeal to the public to be responsible stewards of the environment by not throwing garbage haphazardly and by practicing recycling of waste materials that are still reusable,” MMDA Chairperson Romando Artes said, adding there is a need to keep waterways in the metropolis free of garbage and debris. — With Ashzel Hachero
