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Opposition to SP endorsement on BQ reclamation shapes up
by Rey Anthony Chiu

Alarmed over rumors that the city council is drafting a resolution endorsing to the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) an alleged illegal reclamation here, a group of civil society initiators are up to make a stir.

Civil society convenor Paterna Ruiz openly asks why the Tagbilaran City Sangguniang Panlungsod is endorsing Bohol Quality’s illegal reclamation and not the others who are also similarly engaged in encroaching into the city’s foreshore areas and making environmental problems?

Rumors which civil society members have leaked to environment advocates bare that the city council is drafting a resolution endorsing BQ’s reclamation 2.1 hectares, which compounds the discrepancy when the pending application filed at the PRA by the same entity is 2.3 hectares.

In fact, Ruiz, who was among those who performed actual survey on the city foreshore areas which are reclaimed said BQ has in fact covered some 5.6 hectares already.

Ruiz also showed that in Tagbilaran City, there are some 8.369 hectares of illegally reclaimed lots by private individuals while government institutions occupy some .294 hectares of unlawful and unpermitted reclamation projects.

“Upon which framework is the SP using, to endorse an illegal activity to the PRA?” she asked during the Kapihan sa PIA.

Apart from BQ, other private sectors with pending or no application for reclamation but nevertheless went on with the land dumps, include two in Cogon: Bohol Tropics at .3 hectares and Alturas with .5 hectares.

In Poblacion 2 where the main bulk of foreshores are reclaimed, violators include the .552 hectares of Jjs Seafoods Village, .327 hectares of Ramiro Community Hospital and BQ’s 5.6 hectares.

In Poblacion 2 are government facilities built on reclaimed lots without PRA nod.

These include the Senior Citizens with .025 hectares, Philippine Coast Guard’s .052 hectares, Maritime Police’s .03, K of C Day Care .099 and the League of Municipalities at .088 hectares or a total of .294 hectares, records presented by Ruiz showed.

In Mansasa, Villa Alzhun Tourist in has .05 hectares and Crabhouse also has reclaimed 1 hectare.

In Bool, Jun Mercado accordingly reclaimed .04 hectares, Ruiz said.

Records also would show that only seven of all these violators have applied for a special PRA registration, but none has come out from the PRA, sources privy to the applications revealed.

Existing reclamations have caused damages: destruction and degradation of the city’s coastal resources; mangroves were cut, seagrass beds were wiped out and the areas are converted into a business zone where hotels, lodging houses and settlements have been erected.

For structures within the disputed areas, no building permits were issued on buildings erected in the area, according to Ruiz.

As the foreshore land was transformed into a business zone, the problems of marine pollution, resource degradation and destruction of the ecosystem are now confronting the city of Tagbilaran on its face, Ruiz pointed out.   

Because of this, Ruiz is now inviting civil society groups and Tagbilaranons to unite and oppose the endorsement, for the violators to accept the recommendations of the foreshore audit which includes the Ecosystem Study on the Tagbilaran City Channel and to put up an ordinance that bans reclamations until a thorough study can be completed.

Moreover, the civil society groups want to exact accountability of violators rather than award them for their unauthorized reclamation, develop a policy on Foreshore Development and management anchoring on the principle of sustainable ecosystem development and pursue a co-management scheme with the PRA and the DENR.

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