INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — A fisherfolk group on Thursday appealed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for an “immediate on-site investigation” regarding the dismantling of mussel farms and stationary fish traps for a reclamation project in Navotas City.
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) national chairperson Fernando Hicap wrote a letter to Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources officer-in-charge Nestor Domenden to voice out their concerns and appeals in line of the impact of the city’s reclamation project.
“We, small fisherfolk, fish workers, and operators of fishing structures in Navotas City are sending this letter of collective complaint against the pending reclamation project covering our fishing waters. In preparation for the 650-hectare reclamation project for mixed and commercial use, its private proponent, the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is already making efforts to have our mussel farms (tahungan), stationary fishing traps (baklad), among other fishing structures dismantled,” the letter reads.
“We firmly oppose this reclamation because it threatens not only the livelihood of more than 1,000 residents directly involved in the fishing industry, but moreover, the fragile marine ecosystem and biodiversity of Manila Bay,” it added.
Aside from the on-site investigation, Pamalakaya also asked the DENR to issue a cease-and-desist order on the said project.
According to them, the reclamation project “will inarguably violate the goals of the DENR Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program and the Supreme Court mandamus to rehabilitate Manila Bay.”
“We assert that reclamation directly contradicts DENR’s Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program, which is based on the 2008-Supreme Court continuing mandamus to clean up Manila Bay and restore its waters to be fit for human recreation and fishery resources development,” it added in a statement.
Last September 5, Pamalakaya and other progressive groups and local fisherfolk organizations, held a protest rally in Barangay Sipac-Almacen and San Jose in Navotas against the reclamation project.
Based on the city’s environmental impact statement in 2020, the reclamation project aims to transform Navotas into a major seaport city supported by a mix of commercial and industrial development to generate higher-paying jobs and income-generating establishments. — Christian Paul Dela Cruz, INQUIRER.net trainee