THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Wednesday that the two projects of the Pasay Eco-City Reclamation have been given the green light to resume reclamation activities after complying with the required documentation.
Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga made the clarification via Zoom in a Palace press briefing after she was asked about the basis of the decision for the reclamation activities to continue.
“There are two processes that the DENR is undertaking: The first one is the compliance review process ‘no – the compliance review process is taking a look at the ECC and the area clearances of all those that were given the go ahead to see whether they have actually complied with the conditions,” Yulo-Loyzaga told reporters.
“The second process, if you will recall, is the community impact assessment – this is the scientific analysis needed in order for us to determine what is the community impact of all of these projects in terms of the fulfillment of the mandamus order by the DENR as the lead implementing agency. So, what we are able to do is evaluate and assess compliance,” she said.
The DENR neither suspend, nor lifted suspension, and Yulo-Loyzaga said it is a matter to be handled by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA). The PRA is a government regulatory agency handling reclamation activities in the country.
She said some of the ECC and area clearance terms were given on certain conditionalities and the DENR is trying to address the compliance to those conditionalities – not in the post, but in terms of the review process.
Asked if the two reclamation projects passed DENR’s qualifications, Yulo said there were several technical conferences called because there were some findings and observations.
“And after they complied with what was required – documentation-wise and then review-wise as well overall – the DENR actually submitted a report and they had in fact substantially complied,” the DENR chief added.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in August this year suspended 22 reclamation projects in the Manila Bay to review regulatory compliance and assess the environmental and community effects of those projects.
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