The fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) filed a complaint against Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado-Revilla before the Office of the Ombudsman over the proposed 420-hectare reclamation projects in Cavite, which is feared will displace some 700 families.
In the complaint, Pamalakaya alleged that Mercado violated the 2008 Supreme Court mandamus to “clean-up, restore and rehabilitate” Manila Bay and the administrative order expediting the restoration of the waterway through the reclamation of fish ponds and mangroves.
“She makes the Manila Bay rehabilitation program of the Duterte government a sham,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA national chairperson, said.
“She should have been coordinating with the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to develop the fishing industry of her city but she is on the opposite and destructive path of reclamation,” Hicap also said.
