MANILA, Philippines — An environmental group called on the environmental team of the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the alleged irregularities in the government’s project to dump artificial white sand along the shoreline of Manila Bay.
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment called on the Environmental Ombudsman Team to immediately launch a probe into “the alleged bloating of costs and cutting of regulatory corners in the Manila Bay dolomite dump.”
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“This P389-million project represents just 0.83 percent of the entire P47-billion Manila Bay rehab program. The potential for large-scale corruption, dereliction of duty and ecological harm is completely unacceptable in these times of pandemic crisis,” Leon Dulce, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, said in a statement Thursday.
According to the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, only P28 million of the P389 million allocation for the “beach nourishment” project was used for the crushed dolomite rocks.
The Environmental Ombudsman Team is mandated to take cognizance of any act or omission committed by any public official or agency mandated to protect the environment that appears to be illegal, improper or inefficient, or any malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance committed by any public employee if said act involves any violation of environmental concerns.
The DENR said that the “beach nourishment” project may control beach erosion and engineering interventions were in place, but several groups and scientists pointed out that dolomite dump is bound to be washed away by strong waves and flooding.
They also said that dolomite sand could potentially harm not only the bay’s marine ecosystem but also communities in and around the area.
“All kinds of red flags are therefore raised when a complete waste of taxpayer’s money that cannot be seen in any of the Manila Bay rehab and development blueprints, and does not have any environmental clearance, suddenly pops out of nowhere,” Dulce said.
Non-compliance, wilful violation
A coalition of environmental, fisherfolk and religious groups led by Oceana Philippines said it has begun sending its position paper on the dolomite dumping to government agencies, the Commission on Audit, the Office of the Ombudsman and the two legislative houses.
“Ang objective is mapatigil [ito] pero kung di mapatigil, those responsible for the damage should be held accountable,” Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, Oceana Philippines vice president, said in a forum Thursday.
(Our objective is to halt the project. But if this is not stopped, those responsible for the damage should be held accountable.)
Estenzo-Ramos, an environmental lawyer, said that the project should have undergone the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) system like other projects or undertakings which are seen to have a significant adverse impact to the quality of the environment and other consultative and participatory process.
DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda earlier said the project is not covered by the EIS system and only a certificate of non-coverage, which is issued for undertakings that are deemed unlikely to cause significant adverse impacts on the environment, was secured.
But Estenzo-Ramos said this is an admission that the project did not go through the EIS process.
“This CNC is a solid evidence of non-compliance and wilful violation of national laws,” Estenzo-Ramos.