The word “reclamation” nowadays almost always means environmental destruction, especially when done in coastal areas that are exposed to the forces of nature, such as extreme weather events, typhoons, strong currents, etc and in critical habitats.
One such area is the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) in Manila Bay, which is expected to be negatively impacted by the proposed reclamation of 635 hectares adjacent to the LPPCHEA and a bridge construction between Parañaque River and Freedom Island.
This reclamation project is proposed by the Philippine Reclamation Authority and the Cyber Bay Reclamation. Based on information available to me, the Alltech Contractors, Inc. has been issued an Environmental Clearance Certificate apparently signed by EMB Director, Atty. Juan Miguel T. Cuna, over the objection of members of the Manila Bay Critical Habitat Management Council. The Council has argued that this project could have an irreversible impact on the area of LPPCHEA.
The LPPCHEA has an area of 175 hectares and is the last of its kind of ecosystem (mangrove) in Manila Bay as well as home to more than 5,000 individual birds belonging to about 80 species, some of which are native and vulnerable species.
It is also part of the East Asian-Australian Flyway, therefore part of the global system of biodiversity corridor. There are eight species of mangrove trees in the 30 hectares of mangrove ecosystem that absorbs part of the carbon dioxide produced by millions of people living in Metro Manila.
Adjacent “ to the area are about 114 hectares of mudflats from which both birds and humans derive food supplies.
The proposed reclamation and infrastructure construction is inconsistent with the government commitments to conservation, as contained in the three International Conventions, namely, Conservation on Biological Diversity, Convention on Migratory Species, and the Ramsar Convention (Wetlands Conservation), not to mention the government’s concern to protect the people of Metro Manila from the effects of climate change and extreme weather events.
It is now clear that the sea level around Metro Manila has risen 20-40 cm during the past 50 years, causing or exacerbating floods in low-lying towns of Metro Manila.
By giving an ECC to the developers of a controversial project, whose stakeholders have been complaining that they were not involved in the decision-making, we lose credibility as a nation that is supposedly concerned with the protection of the people, the environment and the biodiversity.
Some of our people do not yet realize that a major cause of perennial flooding in Metro Manila with associated loss of human lives and property is the conversion of wetlands into infrastructure and human settlements. Another effect of reclamation is the frequent occurrence of red tides in Manila Bay, which alters normal circulation of water, thus, favoring red tide development in the bay.
I hope that concerned individuals such as former Representative Cynthia Villar and organizations such as Wild Bird Club, Haribon Foundation, etc. will continue to oppose reclamations in Manila Bay, especially in the vicinity of the last mangrove forest of Parañaque and Las Piñas.
It is unfortunate that an agency of DENR, a department charged with the responsibility of protecting the environment, has become a party to the impending destruction of the Manila Bay environment by issuing an ECC.