MikeLigalig.com

By Bohol Chronicle

The activist fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) is pressing Malacañang to intercede and stop the ambitious plan to reclaim 450 hectares off Panglao Bay.

Asserting that the environment and the livelihood of small fisherfolk should not be sacrificed in exchange for business accommodation and money making, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should immediately reject the reclamation project in Panglao.

Hicap said that if the plan pushes through, it will be "a geographic devastation and environmental holocaust".
         
"Imagine the national government and the provincial government will change the geography and engage in all-out destruction of Panglao just to please their corporate clients? The situation merits the immediate cancellation of the project proposal," Hicap stressed.

The Pamalakaya leader believed the proposed man-made islands project off Panglao shores has the seal of approval of Malacañang.

"The fingerprints of Arroyo and her staunch ally Gov. Erico Aumentado are imprinted in this extremely mind-boggling project," he said.

Hicap said it will appeal to militant representatives in Congress - Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño and Atty. Neri Javier Colmenares, Gabriela Women Party lawmakers Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan and Anakpawis party list Reps. Rafael Mariano and Joel Maglunsod to conduct an investigation on the controversial project in aid of legislation.

Hicap said Pamalakaya will formally write Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on Climate Change to conduct her own investigation on the possible impact of offshore reclamation in Panglao Island on climate change.

"We will explore all possible venues to ventilate the opposition of the fisherfolk and other concerned sectors on this outrageous plan in Panglao," he said.

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