MANILA, Philippines — Declaring Manila Bay a “reclamation-free” zone, not just assigning a “discipline” zone, will make the historic bay clean and healthy, a fishers group said Tuesday.
In a statement, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) criticized the proposal of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources to declare the entire stretch of Manila Bay’s baywalk a “discipline” zone to ensure its cleanliness.
DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said the department will submit a request to the Manila City government to pass such ordinance, CNN Philippines reported over the weekend. This, after he allegedly saw a man defecating along the baywalk area during the agency’s inspection of the artificial white sand being dumped along the bay’s shoreline.
For PAMALAKAYA, the proposal is a “misplaced priority” and “reeks poor-blaming.”
“While the DENR is making a fuss out of feces, it fails to recognize the actual and biggest threat in Manila Bay—the massive reclamation projects that wipeout mangrove forests and sea grasses and cause irreversible damage and pollution in the waters,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA national chairperson, said.
Hicap called on the DENR, which heads the Manila Bay rehabilitation task force, to revoke all the environmental compliance certificates issued to several reclamation projects on the bay.
“How about declare the Manila Bay a reclamation-free zone to save it from further ecological destruction and revive its marine and fishery resources?”
Reclamation projects are seen to adversely affect the habitat of marine species and wetlands and wells as destroy a source of fish catch for fisherfolk.
Scientists also said that coastal development projects will also make coastal communities susceptible to liquefaction — or when loosely packed ground surface loses their strength—during earthquakes and aggravate flooding in low-lying areas.
One of the biggest reclamation projects in Manila Bay is the proposed New Manila International Airport in Bulacan province, which will reclaim 2,500 hectares of fishing and mangrove areas.
The DENR in June issued an ECC to the land reclamation project in Bacoor City.
PAMALAKAYA earlier said that a better way to rehabilitate Manila Bay is restoring mangrove forests and wetlands.
Early in September, the department began filling a stretch of Manila Bay’s coastline as a part of the government’s effort to rehabilitate, a move feared to potentially harm not only the bay’s marine ecosystem but also communities in and around the area. Critics also hit the project for its alleged failure to comply with environmental laws.