Reclamation commotion

The municipality of Cordova, Cebu province, intends to reclaim dozens of hectares of its coasts, part of which would be laid out and promoted as a mini-Boracay or beachfront to lure tourists.

The town government is not the only institution that is interested in the area. A political kingpin, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district, once rolled out his bright idea of moving the international airport to Cordova’s reclaimed land as soon as it comes to being.

With this sea change of greater ecological and human rights awareness the world over, Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, and Osmeña too, should have anticipated the recent legal action taken by environmentalists in league with affected Cordova fisherfolk against the project.

Or Mayor Sitoy should have entertained the possibility of launching alternative projects to accelerate development in his locality that result in little, if any, harm on the environment.

(For the green movement—which finally arrived with the win, in 2007, of the Nobel Prize for Peace by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former US vice president Al Gore of the “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary fame—is no passing fad but a necessary though slow evolution of the collective human consciousness.)

Now Mayor Sitoy is reaping the fruits not only of marching out of step with history but also failing to consult the townsfolk who would suffer the possible consequences of the project, like loss of marine biodiversity and livelihood.

The plot has thickened with the mayor sending tanods as emissaries to invite to his office for a meeting fishers who sued him with the Ombudsman over the reclamation project.

Environmentalists described the summoning of fishers Edie Quijano, Alejandro Baguio and Cirilo Pagobo as an act of harassment.

Environment lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos of the Philippine Earth Justice Center pointed out it could constitute obstruction of justice, since the case is with the Tanodbayan’s office that now has exclusive authority to hear the parties involved.

Let us frame this issue, with others like the cases against coal-fired power plants in Toledo and Naga cities in the south, in the context of the search for peace and a sustainable ecosystem.

These legal and not-so-legal conflicts would not have arisen if local government leaders stopped acting like overlords in their localities, and like visionaries brought to the project drawing boards to the people who should have a say on their land and experts  willing to help them incorporate  into development the rudiments of eco-stewardship.

Governments, local or national, cannot afford to carry on as if there are multiple planet earths. Territories administered by mayors like Sitoy are entrusted in their hands, not as private kingdoms to be shaped according to caprice.