Villar to appeal SC’s ok of Manila Bay reclamation in Las Piñas, Parañaque

Senator Cynthia Villar on Sunday said she will file a motion for reconsideration (MR) before the Supreme Court (SC) over its “go-signal” to reclaim Manila Bay areas in Las Piñas and Parañaque cities.

She urged the high court to take a “different and fresh appreciation” of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) rules.

Villar asserted that any reclamation project in the areas would impede the flow of the six rivers exiting in Manila Bay, which would cause massive flooding, namely: Imus River in Imus City, Bacoor River in Bacoor City, Molino River in Bacoor City, Zapote River between Bacoor and Las Piñas cities, Las Piñas River in Las Piñas City, and Parañaque River in Paranaque City.

In fact, the damage in Imus River cause the filing of case by Antonio Oposa, Ramon Magsaysay laureate for environmental law, which resulted in the issuance of a mandamus of Manila Bay by the Supreme Court.

Villar called on the court magistrates to revisit its ruling which favored Alltech Contractors proposed projects to develop hectares of land in Las Piñas and Parañaque, both along the coastline of Manila Bay, which has been given up and declared illegal and the ECC has expired.

“This and the Declaration by Congress of the existence of a Climate Crisis, and the two reports of the Nobel-Laureate group Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have long since rendered any decisions of the DENR made in 2012 irrelevant,” stressed Villar.

She said the SC can also take judicial notice of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E NIPAS) Act or RA 11038 which was passed in 2018.

“This legislated the now renamed Las Piñas Parañaque Wetland Park (formerly LPPCHEA) into a protected area, said Villar, noting that this was included in the Ramsar Convention list of Wetlands of International Importance, in 2013.

The legislated protected area, Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland is entitled to a buffer zone in Manila Bay which cannot be reclaimed.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)