PEOPLE of Palawan’s scenic Coron municipality, with support from environmentalists, are racing against time to stop what they called an illegal reclamation project, while addressing the grave ecological damage that they blamed on the implementation of its first two phases.
The concerned groups mounted at the last Earth Day (April 22) a tree-planting activity to restore parts of a mangrove forest that they said was among the casualties of reclamation, along with precious marine life forms and habitat. One of those involved in the Sagip Coron Movement, Marion Raagas, said the reforestation was suggested by no less than President Duterte when stakeholders raised the matter with him recently.
Also on Earth Day, the residents, including farmers, fishermen and the indigenous community of Tagbanuas, also had a townhall meeting hosted by long-time Coron resident Bob Magallanes.
The group’s March 22 meeting with President Duterte was followed by two events: the formation of a task force, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), to assess the situation; and the issuance by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) of a cease and desist order addressed to Palawan’s provincial government to stop the reclamation until conditions set by the PRA for the project are complied with.
The CDO, signed by PRA General Manager and CEO Atty. Janilo E. Rubiato, told the provincial government to “immediately cease and desist from further undertaking reclamation activities until all governmental requirements and conditions have been fully complied with, including but not limited to the conditions of the Notice to Proceed issued by the PRA, foremost of which is the requirement of an Area Clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.”
The PNP and NBI were directed to assist the PRA in enforcing its CDO.
The Sagip Coron leaders said the PRA letter, however, smacked of acceptance of a fait accompli—that, despite what they deem the “illegality” of pushing through the reclamation’s second phase—the PRA’s CDO merely allows proponents to proceed with it nonetheless after “curing” their acts instead of penalizing them for their alleged lapses.
Meanwhile, the Sagip Coron movement is finalizing a petition to be signed by 22,222 people, seeking a stop to the project, citing the huge ecological damage to sea grass, marine life forms and mangroves.
They have invited a team of renowned marine biologists to conduct an assessment of the damage, and render a report which they will share with DENR.
Leaders of the group claimed their petition-signing efforts, meanwhile, are being “blocked” by former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado, whose firm is said to be a contractor of the project’s private-sector proponents.
