BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Urban poor groups in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental expressed their vehement opposition to the proposed reclamation project covering 247-hectares along the shorelines of Zones 1 to 5, Barangay Banago, Bacolod City, in a joint position paper dated September 3.
The position paper signed by Berlita Ante and Vicente Fernandez, chairpersons of KADAMAY and PAMALAKAYA, respectively, cited that the approval by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod of the Resolution of No Objection (RONO) lacks constitutional requirements and procedural due process as the same was hurriedly adopted to favor certain business interests without people’s social acceptability and participation as required under the Philippine Constitution and under Sections 2(c) and 27 of R.A. 7160 or the Local Government Code.
The SP had approved last month the RONO requested by the Bacolod Reclamation Gateway Corp. (BRGC) represented by its legal counsel former councilor Dindo Ramos, for a reclamation project in Brgy. Banago involving an area of 247.87 hectares, which they claimed will generate necessary revenues for the city and provide employment opportunities for its residents.
The groups urgently request that the construction of the proposed reclamation project in Zones 1 to 5 of Brgy. Banago be immediately stopped and a barangay-wide public hearing and consultation be held in the affected areas, citing that about 6,000 families and their dependents will be eased out or displaced, particularly in the areas of Bayanihan, Mahimulaton, Sibucao, Lilang, Alalajuy and Kitahanun.
They also said that more than 1,000 small fisherfolk and ambulant fish vendors, whose daily food sustenance is dependent on fishing, will be displaced and this will necessarily cause serious economic dislocation and hardships to their families.
The proposed reclamation project is calculated to destroy hundred hectares of mangroves and other small trees which are natural sanctuaries of rich marine resources and will also add to soil erosion and flooding. So, they are urging the intervention of government agencies like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to prevent the imminent environmental destruction posed by the proposed reclamation project, the group said.
They noted that the reclamation project has started even before the necessary permits/licenses or authority has been issued by the DENR, Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Philippine Ports Authority and other government local and national agencies, they added.
A copy of their position paper will be furnished Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and members of the SP, and government agencies concerned.*
