Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) should be required before the Sangguniang Panlungsod grants Resolutions of No Objections (RONOs) to the proponents of two reclamation projects in Bacolod City, a youth environmentalist said Wednesday, March 1.
Joshua Villalobos said aside from the actual destruction of marine life, these massive reclamation projects would also mean that mountains are to be flattened by quarrying to supply the materials needed. If not, they might source it from seafloors, he added.
“I hope our officials will think of these massive impacts before they grant any permits,” he added.
“The proposed reclamations are being blatantly fast-tracked, and communities in the margins are being blindsided. Proposals of this scale should be thoroughly discussed, consulted, and studied well before any approval could be done,” Villalobos said.
How can the SP members say they don’t object to the reclamation projects if no studies are done and presented as to the impacts they will have on the communities and the environment, he asked.
He said Department of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2022-018 4.1.3 prohibits local government units from issuing RONOs without the conduct of an EIA.
Banago residents are opposing the proposed reclamation projects, which they said would deprive them of their source of livelihood, which is fishing.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said on Tuesday, February 28, that he supports the proposed reclamation projects because they – will draw investments to the city.
The group of businessman Jerry Sy is asking the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod for a RONO for the reclamation of 150 hectares in Barangay Banago.
The Bacolod Reclamation Gateway Corp. of the family of Councilor Vladimir Gonzalez is also proposing a public private partnership with the city government for the reclamation of 600 hectares in barangays 1, 2 and Banago, Councilor Claudio “Kalaw” Puentevella said earlier.
Benitez said the reclamation project will benefit the residents of Banago.
The reclamation projects will provide more property for onsite housing for the residents and other uses that will be beneficial to them, he said.*