Cimatu
DENR slammed for issuing ECC to Bulacan Aerotropolis
News Release
July 8, 2019
DENR slammed for issuing ECC to Bulacan Aerotropolis
Manila, Philippines – The militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) on Monday slammed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for providing environmental compliance certificate (ECC) to San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) P700-billion Bulacan Aerotropolis, a reclamation project that will be constructed in the 2,500-hectare coastal waters in Bulakan, Bulacan. The group recorded around 700 fishing and coastal families in seven sitios of Barangay Taliptip in Bulakan are under the threat of displacement to pave way for the aerotropolis.
The fisherfolk group said Bulacan Aerotropolis is the 4th reclamation project to be given an environmental permit by the DENR. Others projects that has already acquired an ECC include the 419-hectare Horizon Manila Project, the 148-hectare Manila Solar City, and the 318-hectare Manila Waterfront Project.
Manila Bay fishers protested Manila Bay reclamation disguised as ‘rehabilitation’
News Release
January 18, 2019
Manila Bay fishers protested Manila Bay reclamation disguised as ‘rehabilitation’
Manila, Philippines – Manila Bay fishers under the group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas) on Friday trooped the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) head office to protest the pseudo-rehabilitation of Manila Bay that includes demolition of at least 300, 000 fisherfolk and settlers.
PAMALAKAYA, along with the residents of Manila Bay and environmental activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment urged environment secretary Roy Cimatu to craft a genuine rehabilitation program that will restore Manila Bay back to its traditional use as fishing grounds, and not to further transform it into a vast commercial and tourism hub at the expense of its marine ecosystem and hundreds of thousands of population residing around it.
“Manila Bay is deteriorating, don’t get us wrong. We are the ones who suffer from the effects of its environmental degradation on a regular fishing basis. But wiping us out from Manila Bay to give way for its further privatization will do more harm to its ecosystem than good. Ever since that reclamation and conversion have become the government and corporate craze, massive mangrove forests have been uprooted and productive coral reefs were destroyed. Fish catch has dramatically declined to 2-5 kilos every fishing trip,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson and a fisherman in Manila Bay lamented during the protest.
Fisherfolk calls Cimatu’s order on protected areas “anti-environment”
Fisherfolk calls Cimatu’s order on protected areas “anti-environment”
Manila, Philippines – Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has earned the ire of the activist fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA-Pilipinas) over the resumption of the special use agreement for protected areas (SAPA), saying this opens the floodgates for environmental destruction to the country’s pristine protected areas.
SAPA allows protected areas such as strict nature reserve, natural park, natural monument, wildlife sanctuary, protected landscapes and seascapes to be used for agroforestry, ecotourism, communication and power facilities, irrigation canals, aquaculture, and for weather and other scientific monitoring facilities.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2011 suspended the issuance of SAPA.
In a statement, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson Fernando Hicap said the lifting of the suspension of SAPA lays open our preserved areas such as forest and marine zones to corporate activities that pose environmental disaster.
“With the resumption of issuance of SAPA, protected areas will be more vulnerable to various forms of corporate plunder embedded with environmental destruction. It will further the conversion of preserved marine areas into mere ecotourism zones and private aquaculture farms,”
Pamalakaya-Pilipinas 