THE United States Embassy in Manila has expressed concerns over ongoing reclamation projects in Manila Bay and the involvement of a Chinese company in the projects that it said has been helping Beijing militarize the South China Sea.
In a statement, the embassy said it is in constant communication with the government about the reclamation projects, saying it said could have negative environmental implications for local communities.
There are around 22 reclamation projects in Manila Bay, according to the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
“We have expressed our concerns about the potential negative long-term and irreversible impacts to the environment, the resilience to natural hazards of Manila and nearby areas, and to commerce,” the embassy said.
To recall, environmental groups, fisherfolks and civil society organizations such as the Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, and Pamalakaya had urged the government to halt the reclamation projects, saying it could potentially have destructive effects on the 27,000-hectares of the marine ecosystem, wetlands and mangroves in Manila Bay and nearby communities.
They said it could also affect the livelihood of residents in the area while exposing coastal communities to cyclones and sudden storm surges.
The embassy also raised concerns over the involvement of China Communications Construction Corporation (CCCC) in the projects, adding it had been blacklisted by the US government and was also cited by the World Bank for allegedly engaging in fraudulent activities.
One of the projects was awarded to China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co.
“We are also concerned that the projects have ties to the China Communications Construction Co., which has been added to the US Department of Commerce’s Entity List for its role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize artificial islands in the South China Sea. The company has also been cited by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for engaging in fraudulent business practices,” the embassy said.
The CCCC also won the contract for the Samal Island-Davao City Connector Project and the North and South Harbor Bridge.
The company also proposed to Malacanang it would construct a highway to connect Laoag City in Ilocos Norte to Rosario, La Union.
The Chinese Embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs have yet to issue statements regarding the US concerns on the reclamation projects.
The US embassy said it continues to “support high quality, sustainable, and transparent investments to benefit the Filipino people and will continue to engage with the appropriate authorities on this matter.”
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has been planning to do a cumulative impact assessment of the reclamation projects in Manila Bay and intends to form a team of scientists and experts to illustrate the cumulative impact of such projects especially on the environment, Department Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said yesterday.
“We have started to talk to the different scientists that will be part of that. Just to give you an idea, it is not just environmental science broadly because it involves a bay system that leads to the ocean,” Yulo-Loyzaga said in mixed Filipino and English.
She said the team also needs a physical oceanographer, a chemical oceanographer, a fisheries expert, a marine biologist, and several types of engineers to effectively evaluate the potential infrastructure that will be introduced.
“The composition of the cumulative impact assessment team is not easy to gather, “ Yulo-Loyzaga added during a press briefing in Malacañang.
She added that unlike the team that was involved in the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan which involved separate Filipino scientific and foreign teams, the impact assessment team they are forming would be “predominantly (a) Filipino scientific team with some technical assistance from foreign experts but will be led by a Filipino team.”
Asked if the government would stop the reclamation projects if the cumulative assessment showed a negative impact on the environment, Yulo-Loyzaga said the reclamation has “certain value, obviously in terms of the economy. However, we need to do the cost-benefit analysis in terms of the impact on the ecology and the longer-term impact in terms of possibly what could result from climate change.”
She said that even before the US had raised its concerns, there were also other groups that had raised some issues about the projects.
Yulo-Loyzaga said they also have to consider possibilities such as the rising sea level rise, the existence of geological hazards such as the Manila Trench situated at Manila Bay, and possible geological events such as the “Big One” or a major earthquake that could happen in Metro Manila which would split the region into several areas. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
