By seeking an exemption from its own environment compliance regulations, DENR violated Presidential Decree No. 1586 (Environmental Impact Statement System Law) and DENR Administrative Order No. 2003-30, the agency’s own implementing rules and regulations governing environment compliance certificates.
Under PD No. 1586 and DAO No. 2003-30, projects that require an ECC are those located in Environmentally Critical Areas such as:
a. areas set aside as aesthetic potential tourist spotsb. areas of unique historic interest
Executive Order No. 69, series of 1999, designates portions of the waters in Manila Bay and its foreshore area as a special tourist zone.
The EO further orders the conservation and maximization of areas in Manila Bay with tourism potential.
Clearly, there should be little doubt that this strip of beach does not only have aesthetic potential as a tourist spot, but has in fact proven itself as an actual tourist attraction for its prime sunset views.
On the other hand, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, in its 2012 Resolution No. 19, declared the “Manila Bay and Waterfront from Del Pan Bridge to the Cultural Center of the Philippines” a National Historical Landmark (NHL) as it is the “sacred ground of our country’s long and rich history.”
In that resolution, the NHCP underscores the importance of the bay to the country as it was on its shores that an ancient civilization (later Islamic communities) thrived and for being an international commercial center since the precolonial times.
It also cited the bay’s other historic feats such as the 1570 battle between the Spaniards and Filipino forces, the Spanish-Dutch battle of 1647, the British invasion of the 1760s, the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, among others.
These government issuances show that the Manila Bay white sand project is a covered activity requiring an ECC, as the project is in:
a) an area that is set aside as an aesthetic, potential tourist spot and;b) an area of unique historical interest.
As such, there is absolutely no basis for the DENR to say that its project is not covered by ECC rules. The proponents should have applied and received an approved ECC before starting the project.
There is therefore clear legal basis for the project to stop proceeding until and unless an ECC has been issued by the DENR itself.
The environment department should be the first to follow its own environment laws and regulations.
SC Manila Bay Advisory Committee should intervene
Most important, this presents a prima facie case for a Writ of Kalikasan in the Supreme Court, including a temporary environment protection order stopping the Manila Bay white sand project.
Manila Bay spans several cities and provinces, as far as Bataan and Cavite, such that there will be no difficulty complying with the Writ of Kalikasan’s procedural requirements relating to the potential environment impact of the project in several localities.
At the very least, the Supreme Court should intervene under its Manila Bay Advisory Committee (MBAC) led by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta.
The MBAC was reconstituted by the Chief Justice himself on 19 December 2019.
The Committee is tasked to maintain the mandate of the continuing mandamus and enable the Court to verify the reports of the government agencies tasked to clean up the Manila Bay.
As such, the MBAC should not wait for a fresh case to be filed before intervening on the white sand controversy, as it this afford the public immediate relief from the potential environmental impact of the project.
Clearly, the SC should be informed that the DENR has not only violated its own rules, but also overstepped its mandate in Manila Bay, either based on SC’s continuing mandamus or President Rodrigo Duterte’s Manila Bay Task Force.
Both bodies call for the cleanup, rehabilitation, restoration maintenance of the WATERS of Manila Bay to a level fit for swimming; and also to improve water quality through the reduction of coliform levels in all river systems and tributaries within Manila Bay.
Both make no mention of a mandate to beautify a thin stretch of Manila Bay’s 190-kilometer coastline.
Terry Ridon is the convenor of Infrawatch PH. His environment law advocacy in the landmark case of Casiño v. Paje developed jurisprudence which allowed writs of kalikasan to challenge defects on permits causally linked to environmental damage.