Villar: Scrap Manila Bay Airport project

Sen. Cynthia Villar is appealing to the incoming Duterte administration to not pursue the proposed reclamation of Manila Bay as a site for a new international airport. 

The senator cited the 2002 ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) that struck down the Public Estates Authority (PEA)-Amari deal as unconstitutional, and which stated that private companies cannot own reclaimed lands.

“I appeal to President-elect [Rodrigo] Duterte to look beyond the claim of decongesting existing airports and realize that the planned reclamation will cause flooding as high as 8 meters in Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite. It will also deprive 300,000 fishermen of their livelihood,” Villar said.

“Attracting tourists and investors should not be proposed at the expense of the Constitutionally-guaranteed rights of citizens for a safe and secure environment to live in,” she added.

Villar, a known advocate of environmental protection, said the reclamation of Manila Bay will destroy the Las Piñas- Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA). To stop this plan, she filed a petition for a writ of kalikasan on March 16, 2012, before the SC.

Villar said the airport project was being resurrected after San Miguel Corp.’s proposal to build a new airport in Manila Bay did not push through during the outgoing Aquino administration.

A newspaper report said reelected Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez has urged Duterte to push through with the proposed $13-billion international airport in Manila Bay. Under the plan, the proposed airport will make use of 157 hectares of Freedom Island.

Villar pointed out that, contrary to the claim of Olivarez, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), proposed the Sangley Point in Cavite and beyond as a viable site of the airport and not Manila Bay in Parañaque.

LPPCHEA is a declared critical habitat and a protected area by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 1412 and 1412-A in 2007. It is the first critical habitat to be declared in the country. Covering around 175 hectares of wetland ecosystem, LPPCHEA consists of Freedom and Long islands.

In March 2013, it was also listed as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention because of the critical role it plays in the survival of threatened and restricted-range bird species. It is the only wetland in Metro Manila.

The five other Philippine sites on the list are: the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and the Tubbataha Reefs National Marine wPark in Palawan; the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary; the Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro; and the Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Cebu.

LPPCHEA’s 35-hectare mangrove forest is the thickest and most diverse in Manila Bay. There are currently 11 mangrove species growing in the area. It is the spawning ground of fishes in Manila Bay that gives 300,000 poor fishermen their livelihood.

It is also home and known breeding area of the Philippine ducks, Chinese egret and Black-Winged Stilts, considered as vulnerable species, as listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, along with 82 other wild bird species coming from as far as China, Japan and Siberia. About 1,000 of the Black- Winged Stilts of only 100,000 existing in the whole world can be found in the area.

The Philippines, being one of the signatories to the Ramsar Convention, is mandated to protect the habitat.

“The reclamation of Manila Bay is dangerous, as it can also be seen as a violation of SC’s continuing mandamus since 2008 directing the government to clean up Manila Bay,” Villar said.

In his Manila Times column, Atty. Dodo Dulay said “the increased population and commercial activity will definitely put more environmental stress on Manila Bay, making it almost impossible to clean up its heavily polluted waters.”

Villar clarified that she is not opposed to the construction of a new international airport, but drove the point that the plan must be guided by the tenet that the lives of people are more important over any growth and development.

In fact, Villar believes a new and modern airport would decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) and improve its image as one of the world’s worst airports. She said the airport in Clark could be improved to reduce passenger traffic in the Naia.