The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said Saturday that the Environmental Management Bureau has turned down their appeal to recall the environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) it had issued for land reclamation projects in Manila Bay.
EMB Director Juan Miguel Cuna reportedly wrote Pamalakaya vice chair Salvador France, and said the agency could not recall the permits or deny applications for ECCs outright “on the basis of perceived disasters alone.”
The fisherman’s group asked the DENR to recall the ECC that they had earlier granted to the Las Piñas-Parañaque Coastal Bay project. This project involves 203 hectares that will be reclaimed in Parañaque and another 431 hectares in Las Piñas.
According to the Inquirer, the P14-billion reclamation project would affect the economic and social well-being of 552,550 residents of Parañaque City and 532,330 residents of Las Piñas.
Additionally, Pamalakaya said the Las Piñas-Parañaque project is just one among 36 reclamation projects. The total area involved covers 26,234 hectares in Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan.
