The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) signed on last week a joint memorandum circular putting more teeth into the regulation of reclamation activities.

The joint memorandum circular, with Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia and PRA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Janilo Rubiato as signatories, enforces the strict implementation of Executive Order 146, series of 2013, which delegates to the Neda Board the power to approve reclamation projects.

The joint directive aims “to foster heightened compliance with the approval of reclamation projects” and “prevent indiscriminate illegal reclamation activities which lack prior Neda Board approval.”

It states that “completed staff work by the PRA and the corresponding PRA Board endorsement, through a PRA Board Resolution, of a reclamation project and reclamation component of a development or infrastructure project should be obtained before submission to the Neda Board Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and/or Neda Board, as the case may be.”

Secretary Pernia, who is also Neda Board vice chair, said the joint memorandum circular will strike a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability in the implementation of reclamation projects.

“Reclamation projects can be good or bad for sustainable development, depending on how, and to what ends they are done. So we must strike a balance between the twin goals of economic growth and environmental sustainability,” Pernia said.

The joint circular will be endorsed to the Office of the President for notation. / PR