Warning about several serious problems, Senator Cynthia Villar on Tuesday asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to recall the issuance of the environment compliance certificate (ECC) to the 320-hectare Bacoor reclamation project.
The Bacoor project was initiated by Bacoor City government together with the owner of Frabelle Fishing Corporation.
Villar, chair of the Senate environment committee, cautioned that the reclamation would destroy legislated protected area and cause massive flooding in communities surrounding Manila Bay.
“The reclamation project will potentially cause irreparable damage to the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park. The project will be building on the buffer zone of this protected area and will destroy the landscape in which the wetland now thrives,” she said.
Under Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act or E-NIPAS Act, the 175-hectare Las Piñas-Parannaque Wetland Park is a declared protected area. It is also one of the seven areas in the Philippines listed as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention because of its critical role in the survival of threatened, restricted-range and congregatory bird species.