ANGELES CITY- Twelve organizations representing fisherfolk, urban poor, church and health associations and environmental alliances and non-government organizations have coalesced to ask the Supreme Court to allow them to act as petitioners-intervenors in the case against the P 14-billion Manila Bay reclamation project.
The still-pending case was initially filed by former Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar and more than 300,000 residents of her city.
The huge project would reportedly also affect communities in Central Luzon, particularly Bulacan, Pampanga, and Bataan.
In their 14-page motion to intervene, the groups argued that the reclamation project involving 203.43 hectares of Paranaque coastal territory and 431.71 hectares of Las Pinas territory is “major threat to the livelihood of small fisherfolk sourcing their subsistence from Manila Bay.”
“The source of this collective fear is based on the experience of small fishermen, mussel growers and shell gatherers beginning 2010 upon the completion of R-1 Extension Expressway Project which is now known as Cavite Expressway or Cavitex.
Two years after the completion of the solid-based road infrastructure done through massive reclamation of not less than 5,000 hectares of foreshore waters along Bacoor Bay, a dramatic decline in fish capture and aquaculture production took place,” the petitioners said.
The 12 groups include the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) represented by Fernando Hicap and Salvador France, Anakpawis and Bayan Muna party list led by Reps. Rafael Mariano and Teodoro Casino respectively, the Koalisyon Kontra Kumbersyon ng Manila Bay (KKK-Manila Bay), the Bacoor-based Alyansa fisherfolk group, Pamalakaya-Bulacan chapter, the Sagip Manila Bay Movement (SMBM), the Save Freedom Island Movement (SFIM), the Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC-Philippines), the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, Earth Island Philippines and the Alliance for Stewardship and Authentic Progress (ASAP).
The petition said “marginal fishermen have been complaining of declining fish catch from an average of 5 kilos to 10 kilos per fishing trip prior to the reclamation and road project to 2 kilos to 3 kilos of average fish catch due to the negative impact of reclamation and road infrastructure project along Bacoor Bay.”
“Several hundreds of hectares of mussel farms were demolished causing grave economic difficulties to small and medium scale mussel operators in Bacoor.
Those who were allowed to operate mussel growing in Bacoor Bay likewise suffered further decline and income loss due, while shell gathering once a productive activity in Bacoor Bay is now a thing of the past due to the ecological imbalance created by massive reclamation,” the petition added.
The groups noted that “the massive reclamation in Las Pinas and Paranaque aside from impeding movements and natural flow of waters that cause massive flooding and sky high storm surge during tropical storms and torrential rains will also pave way to widespread demolition of fishing and urban poor communities and total eviction of people from their means of subsistence.
They stressed that this “is a gross violation of socio-economic and political rights of the bay people as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.”
Their petition cited the same fears in the court case filed by Villar and her former constituents in Las Pinas.
The petitioners also said government agencies such as the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the private company tasked to undertake the reclamation of more than 600 hectares of coastal shores in Las Pinas and Paranaque “committed a serious and grave error when they gave their seal of approval to the massive reclamation project, which purpose is to facilitate the construction of entertainment and gambling hub.”
“Their (PRA and DENR) joint and respective acts violated the landmark decision of the Supreme Court on Manila Bay rehabilitation,” they added.
The petition also noted that “the Supreme Court ruling on Manila Bay rehabilitation has been effectively used and abused by government agencies such as the DENR and the PRA to remove marginalized fishermen and other poor coastal villages from their main source of living and communities.”
The petition reported that “the Las Pinas-Paranaque Coastal Bay project will directly and indirectly affect the economic and social being of 552,660 population in 16 barangays of Paranaque City and 532, 330 residents of Las Pinas City, excluding tens of thousands of fisherfolk and coastal villagers in nearby Bacoor town and neighbor cities of Manila, Navotas, Malabon and coastal towns in Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan provinces who will also be affected by the large-scale reclamation project in various levels.”
The petitioners also noted that “the government has more than 30 big reclamation projects along Manila Bay under the National Reclamation Plan project which is inspired by the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program of the present administration.”
“The Las Pinas-Paranaque Coastal Bay project is just one of these large-scale reclamation projects.
The reclamation projects in Manila Bay alone will engage an across-the-bay reclamation project that would cover 26, 234 hectares of coastal waters,” said the petition, describing the projects as “an open invitation to economic displacement and environmental catastrophe.”
“Let it be noted that the catastrophic impact of the 7-kilometer R-1 Expressway Extension Project which involved the reclamation of 7,500 hectares of submerged public lands and mangrove areas in Manila will be predictably repeated in the case of Las Pinas-Paranque Coastal Bay project,” the 14-page motion also said.
It also said “the reclamation project in Las Pinas and Paranaque which is primed as a major PPP project upon during implementation and upon completion will further destroy the 175 hectare mangrove areas in this Southern part of the metropolis, remove not less 26,000 fisherfolk and urban poor families and will have its far-reaching effects felt by neighbors in Cavite, Manila, Navotas, Malabon, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan.”
“It must be said then, that the misplaced interpretation and implementation of the Decision of the Honorable Court in the MMDA case by the PRA and the DENR will defeat the significance and purpose of the decision.
The DENR has led its sight away from the small fishermen, which includes herein movants, while turning a blind eye to the destructive effect of the reclamation projects in Manila Bay, while the PRA persistently push the P 14-B reclamation project at the expense of people and the environment,” the petition said.
Named as respondents were reclamation developer group All Tech Communicators Inc., Peter Anthony Abaya, general manager of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), environment secretary Ramon Paje and Las Pinas City Mayor Nene Aguilar.
