Senator Cynthia Villar expressed concern a bill allowing the President to ease government permit requirements during national emergencies may lead to the reclamation of Manila Bay and the destruction of a protected wetland park in her native Las Piñas City.

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) had “continuously” issued environmental compliance certificates (ECC) to reclamation projects in Manila Bay, Villar said during a Senate committee hearing on the proposed measure on Tuesday, September 29.

This, despite President Rodrigo Duterte having said “many times” that “there will be no reclamation of Manila Bay under his watch,” Villar added.

Because the EMB was “not following the President,” Villar said, the senator sought to exclude it from Senate Bill (SB) no. 1844.

The bill currently mentions the EMB among agencies whose permit requirements the President may ease or waive during national emergencies.

The reason Villar vehemently opposes reclaiming Manila Bay is the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park, one of 7 such areas in the Philippines included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

“The reclamation of Manila Bay in Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Bacoor will destroy our legislated protected area,” said Villar, who leads the Senate committee on environment, natural resources, and climate change.

The protected wetland is home to 84 species of birds, and includes a 35-hectare mangrove forest serving as spawning grounds for many species of fish.

The local catch supports the livelihood of some 300,000 fisherfolk who live around Manila Bay, Villar added.

Reclaiming the bay would block the Parañaque River and the Las Piñas-Zapote Rivers, and could cause flooding of up to 8 meters during typhoons, the senator said. These were findings made by former Public Works Secretary Rogelio “Babes” Singson, she added, and not by her son, current Public Works Secretary Mark Villar.

Las Piñas, with its many gated subdivisions, is “the home of middle class families” who have paid installments for their homes for decades, Senator Villar noted.

“Ito lang ang naipundar nila in their lifetime, at ito ang ipamamana nila sa kanilang mga anak, eh pababahain mo kami ng 8 meters (This is their life’s work, what they will bequeath to their children, and you’ll flood us under 8 meters of water)?” Villar told the Senate committee on civil service, government reorganization, and professional regulation led by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Not an automatic ‘yes’

“This will destroy also our environment. If this bill will be passed into law without exception, then the EMB will all the more issue ECCs without consultation or study. It will use this law to issue more ECCs and flood Las Piñas as well as Bacoor (Cavite) and Parañaque,” Villar said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“If you centralize it with the President, hindi naman lahat alam ng President and issues, at hindi niya kayang gawin lahat ‘yan (the President isn’t privy to all the issues, and he cannot do all of it),” she added.

Villar asked whether, if the President would end up delegating control over which requirements for permits, licenses, and certifications would be eased or waived, could it be ascertained these would go to a person who understands local concerns?

“So I guess we have to make exception to [the bill] because there are issues that will affect the lives of so many people, and that should not be included in the ease-of-doing-business [measure]. It should be studied very well so that these things can be prevented,” she said.

The proposed measure is meant to facilitate the ease of doing business during national emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. With the health crisis triggering economic recessions across the world, the government is looking for ways to encourage economic activity.

Responding to Villar, Zubiri said the measure does not propose that all requests for permits, licenses, and certificates be automatically granted during a national emergency. It just requires the government to grant or decline such requests “within a particular amount of time.”

“So if it is environmentally destructive, then you should make a stand that these permits should not be given,” Zubiri said.

Zubiri then noted Villar’s concern, and suggested that she file a separate resolution to further delve into the matter of environmental permits.

‘I’ve been fighting for 20 years’

Villar’s family owns the Villar Group of Companies, one of the country’s largest real estate developers.

The senator said many companies have lined up to reclaim Manila Bay because “it’s so cheap.” Reclaiming the bay costs P10,000 per square meter, but the reclaimed land can sell for up to P500,000 per square meter, she added.

Because it is so lucrative, companies proposing reclamation projects in the bay and seeking permits and licenses to do so keep coming.

Villar said she fended off such proposals when she was still working in the private sector, and then as congresswoman for Las Piñas, and even now as a senator.

In 2000, she filed for a Writ of Kalikasan or environmental injunction against a reclamation project.

She had pushed for the legislation of the protected wetland because an executive order from the President had not been enough to ward off attempts at reclamation. The Las Piñas–Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area officially became a national protected area in June 2018.

“I’m so tired. I’ve been fighting this for the last 20 years. My God, you don’t know the hardship that I have encountered,” Villar said.

Still, reclamation projects in different parts of Manila Bay are in the pipeline.

“The President has always said that there will be no reclamation in Manila Bay under his watch, and he is the proponent of cleaning up Manila Bay. Why are we cleaning Manila Bay when we want it reclaimed? That’s not consistent,” Villar told the Senate panel.

The government recently came under harsh criticism for dumping crushed dolomite on a portion of Manila Bay’s shoreline along Roxas Boulevard in Manila to simulate a white sand beach. It cost the government P28 million to mine and haul in the dolomite. The broader project to clean up and beautify this stretch of the bay cost P389 million.

Villar said the government should come to “some decision” about Manila Bay because businesses wanting to reclaim it “will not stop.”

Decline one proposal and another will come in sooner or later because “it’s so profitable,” she added.

“Twenty years is a long time to fight for this. Am I going to fight for this until I die, and ask my children to fight for this?” Villar said.

SB 1844 was authored by senators Vicente Sotto III, Ralph Recto, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Franklin Drilon, and Panfilo Lacson. – Rappler.com