Mangrove park outside of planned Bulacan airport

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—A mangrove park that was rehabilitated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in a town in Bulacan province is far from the proposed 2,500-hectare New Manila International Airport project of San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC).

Bulakan town’s Mangrove Ecopark is 277 meters away from the proposed SMHC aerotropolis and will not be affected by its construction, according to a certification issued on July 22 by Emelita Lingat, Bulacan provincial environment and natural resources officer.

Bulakan residents have been concerned about the ecopark at Sitio Wawang Capiz in Barangay Taliptip, which is north of the planned P734-billion international gateway.

Philkairos Inc., which was commissioned to undertake the government-required environmental impact study for SMHC, informed fishermen and residents in March that the 24.5-ha mangrove area would be spared from the reclamation of former fishponds spanning 2,500 ha.

The rehabilitation of the park was funded by the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau, Lingat said.

Mangroves protect homes during bad weather while giving fishermen good catch, said Monica Anastacio, a leader of the group AkapKa, which is opposed to the SMHC airport project.

Losing the mangroves would leave Bulacan with only 294 ha of mangroves, according to a forest mapping project conducted by Homer Pagkalinawan of the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

By comparison, mangroves along Manila Bay have dwindled from 54,000 ha at the end of the 19th century to 2,000 has in 1990, and 794 ha in 1995, the DENR said. —TONETTE OREJAS