EDITORIAL — Who gave the green light?

Between 2019 and 2021, environment officials say the government approved 22 massive reclamation projects in Manila Bay. How did the administration that championed the cleanup of Boracay allow this to happen in Manila Bay?

The reclamation activities have been criticized not only for obstructing the famous sunset over the bay but also for destroying the livelihoods of fishing communities and, more recently, for aggravating flooding notably in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga. Concerns have also been raised on the impact of the reclamation activities on operations in the country’s busiest commercial port located in the city of Manila.

Now President Marcos has suspended all 22 reclamation projects as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources prepares to review their impact as well as the process leading to the approval of their environmental compliance certificates of ECC, which the DENR issues before such projects can proceed.

The review should also establish the proper route for undertaking such reclamation projects. Investors involved in the projects should themselves want that clarity. Vague rules can prove to be immensely costly in any investment, especially one involving huge amounts of funding.

In this case, who gave the green light for several of the projects to proceed? Can reclamation start with the issuance of an ECC? Does the final nod come from the Philippine Reclamation Authority or the local government unit with jurisdiction over the reclaimed area? Certain LGU officials have touted the benefits of the projects in terms of their potential for economic stimulation and additional revenues.

The review must also determine why so many projects with environmental impact on Metro Manila and four neighboring provinces were approved within just three years. After all the projects were given the green light, then president Rodrigo Duterte announced that he no longer wanted new reclamation projects in the bay.

Recently, the issue was highlighted after the US embassy issued a rare statement of concern not only about the environmental impact of the projects, but also the involvement of a company with links to state-owned China Communications Construction Co. The CCCC was blacklisted by the US government in 2020 for its role in the construction and militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea.

The US embassy said the CCCC was also flagged by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for engaging in fraudulent business practices. The local group involved in the project has said there were no such red flags raised when the applications were being processed.

Now all the projects are on hold, with calls to scrap them altogether. Can any environmental damage still be undone? Obviously, the sooner the rules and policies are clarified, the better it will be for all concerned, from investors to the affected communities.