DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 Sept)—Environment groups here lambasted the City Council’s committee on environment and natural resources for releasing reports of its hearings on the Samal Island – Davao Connector (SIDC) bridge project late by almost two years.
The committee, through its chairman, Councilor Temujin “Tek” Ocampo, released the reports on its hearings only on Tuesday during the city council session, noting that the issues raised against the SIDC were already deemed “resolved, closed, and terminated without prejudice” to have these concerns “raised in proper courts.”
But groups opposed to the SIDC project said that they were kept in the dark for almost two years as to talks between the city government of Davao and the national government. “Maybe there’s a lot of talks within that gap that we were not being communicated with,” lawyer Mark Peñalver, executive director of the Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), told reporters Wednesday morning.
For Ecoteneo director and Sustainable Davao Movement (SDM) secretariat Carmela Marie Santos, the committee report has been “long overdue but full of disinformation that would have been readily verifiable.”
The Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act 7160) requires national government agencies to consult with the local government concerned and non-governmental organizations as to the project’s impact and should have “prior approval” of the legislative body of the local government unit.
The reports of Ocampo’s committee date back to October 26, 2022; November 23, 2022; and January 18, 2023. All these were presented to the city council only on Tuesday with a proposed resolution to close the matter, which was later approved without any objections or discussions from the city councilors.
The committee reports were released about four months after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started working on the bridge.
The said committee reports were demanded by local environmentalists to be presented since November 2022, in an plea for the city council’s transparency on their stance on the SIDC bridge construction.
Ocampo’s committee reports cited that the regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) at that time, Raul Millana, said that their central office issued “no objection” to the SIDC project, “and if even the corals will be damaged, it is possible to restore these reefs through modern technology.”
Another instance mentioned in the reports was when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Region 11 executive director, Bagani Fidel Evasco, told the city council that Paradise Reef, a 7,500-square meter contiguous reef, “will not be directly affected by putting up of bridge columns… but vibrations from construction will reach the reef.”
He also said the Paradise Reef only contained “rubble with observable patches of soft corals… but [there were] no observable corals.”
Evasco further added that the Paradise Reef can be recovered in less than a year, through coral budding, or propagating corals using their own “bud,” to grow and form a bigger colony of corals.
He recommended that after “several meetings” the groups’ concerns must be well raised “through a proper quorum.”
When asked why it took almost two years of delay to release the reports, Ocampo told reporters: “It’s just closing the items without prejudice, if [the concerned groups] will reopen, or they will file a case, or any legal remedy that they can be willing to take.”
When IDIS’s Peñalver was asked what he thought was the reason for the delay, he replied: “I cannot speculate, but your guess is as good as mine.”
The committee hearings were also attended by the committee on public Works and highways headed by Councilor Edgar Ibuyan Jr.; committee on tourism and beautification headed by Councilor Al Ryan Alejandre; and committee on trade, commerce, and industry headed by Councilor Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz.
‘Still a lot of questions’
IDIS’ Peñalver said the recent move of the city council apparently opens more questions than answers, especially on preserving environment amid the SIDC bridge construction.
He said it was rather “disappointing” that the city council closed the said items on the council “without closing the environmental issues which were raised during committee hearings.”
He said they are also considering to file a writ of kalikasan to hold those involved in the SIDC project liable for destroying the environment.
“We are currently reviewing the committee reports and we will raise these issues in the proper time and the proper forum,” Peñalver told reporters Wednesday morning.
Ecoteneo’s Santos, on the other hand, countered the arguments presented by government officials during the hearings.
For instance, she said that the concerned government agencies were still insisting that there were no hard corals in the area, despite their existence under the Paradise Reef.
When asked if one year recovery of corals is attainable as claimed by DENR, she told MindaNews: “There is a centennial table coral there that was lost. Can you recover 100 years in one year?”
“If they [DENR] never really acknowledged the extent of the damage that they have incurred, how can you even believe them in what they say they can recover?” Santos told MindaNews via Facebook Messenger Wednesday afternoon.
Last May, Peñalver urged the city government of Davao to exert its authority and not just dwell in its apparent passivity that it “cannot do anything because it is a national project.”
The Sustainable Davao Movement also signified that the release of committee reports would help clarify to the public how the bridge construction started and took place amid “alleged environment-related violations.”
The Samal-Davao Bridge Project broke ground in October 2022, led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte.
The project is funded by a P23-billion loan agreement between the Chinese and Philippine governments, and is expected to be completed by 2027. The two-way, four-lane bridge aims to reduce the current 15-minute boat ride from Davao City to Samal Island to a five-minute drive, and eliminating the long queue at the pier. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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