Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Mactan project ‘bypassed’ agencies
By Jujemay G. Awit
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE P10 billion Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project bypassed several agencies when it got the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Lapu-Lapu City.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia opened discussion on the project yesterday during a meeting with members of the Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB).
She said the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) opposes the project because it will affect activities at the airport.
“This is very, very near the airport, there could be an effect on the operations of the airport. The airport has its own expansion plan, which may not be in consonance with the proposed reclamation project,” said Garcia.
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 Director Marlene Rodriguez, meanwhile, said the project is very near the Mactan Channel and could affect it.
“It constricts the channel, the movement of sea lanes will be affected,” Rodriguez told reporters yesterday.
Not informed
She also questioned how Lapu-Lapu City got PRA to sign a MOA when other agencies were not even informed of it.
“This is not a simple development. Marami pa sanang dadaanan (It should have passed a long process),” said Rodriguez.
She said the project should have the approval of agencies such as the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar), Cebu Port Authority (CPA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Rodriguez said even Neda 7 was shut out of the project. The project should have undergone review by the Land Use Committee.
Rodriguez said the agency asked for a formal background on the project from Lapu-Lapu City. What the city gave, however, was a city council resolution on the project.
The project should also have the endorsements of the Provincial Development Council, Regional Development Council (RDC) and the Cebu Provincial Reclamation Authority, as well.
“It seemed that the RDC was inadvertently forgotten. This affects the entire island of Cebu, we are not talking of one particular highly-urbanized city,” Garcia said.
“All of these were done without consultations,” the governor said.
“We will in fact make our positions known very clearly, unequivocally, in so far as Cebu Province is concerned and in so far as the Cebu Provincial Reclamation Authority is concerned, the RDC, MCBMB and MCIAA,” said Garcia.
Provincial Board (PB) Member Wenceslao Gakit of the sixth district said the project seemed to be laudable because it would boost economic activity in the city, but said that it should not be done to the extent of endangering the environment.
“We have to look at the legal aspect of the project,” said Gakit.
Governor Garcia also noted that even if Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita recognized the MOA, he also cautioned the city of the project’s environmental impact.
When asked whether there is a study that could back the opposition by the different development planners against the project, Garcia shot back with another question,
“Do they have a study that will substantiate their claim that it will not have an effect. Do we know anything about this?”
Stop implementation
“Let’s just say that it seems to us that this project was conceived without coordination, consultation, and even cognizance of the existence of other entities, other constituents and other local government units in Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas,” she said.
Rodriguez, however, said that the RDC, being the region’s highest policy-making body, can stop the implementation of the reclamation project.
MCBMB 7 asked Lapu-Lapu City to present the project in the next meeting scheduled for June 11.
Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Florito Pozon, who represented Lapu-Lapu in yesterday’s MCBMB meeting, pledged to relay the matter to Mayor Arturo Radaza, whom he said, has the “final say.”
PIA 7 Director Minerva Newman also asked CPA to present a study on oceanographic behavior as possible effect of the reclamation on the Mactan Channel in the next MCBMB meeting.
Pozon could answer reporters on the project yesterday saying he was not familiar with it, being a first-term councilor. The project was conceived about four years ago, he said. The councilor did say that the project would start within the year.
The 400-hectare reclamation will form a small islet covering the offshore land of adjacent Barangays Ibo, Buaya, Mactan and Punta Engano. Three bridges will connect the islet to the mainland.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 7, 2008 issue)
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