Reclamation not banned – Cimatu

For almost a year, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) had to put up with the somehow anti-reclamation stance of former Environment Chief Regina Paz Lopez. But with Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu on board, he gave no indication that he will disallow reclamation activities in the country.

After the hearing on his confirmation held at the Senate, Cimatu said in an interview that he is not against reclamation activities in the country unlike Lopez who made sure that no reclamation project will ever proceed during her term.

“It is allowed in the law,” Cimatu told reporters.

During the hearing, Senator Cynthia Villar particularly asked Cimatu on the extent of DENR’s power on PRA and reclamation projects in general.

It will be recalled that the position of Lopez versus reclamation in the country had given PRA a hard time. This, as no reclamation project has ever proceeded yet since Lopez took over the DENR last year.

“The DENR Secretary and the PRA are not quite on the same page when it comes to reclamation. The DENR Secretary said she’s against reclamation. She said she will not issue ECC (environmental compliance certificate) for reclamation. We have to deal with that,” PRA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Janilo Rubiato earlier told Business Bulletin.

Rubiato said that Lopez’s decision not to issue ECC for reclamation projects has “certainly” become a challenge for PRA because no reclamation project can ever proceed without an ECC.

Based on the Executive Order (EO) 672, no reclamation works shall commence without an ECC from the DENR. It also requires PRA and DENR to have close coordination.

Rubiato said that because DENR was unable to issue ECC for any reclamation project in the past few months, applications have already been piling up.

The PRA has earlier identified 96 reclamation projects in various stages of the evaluation and approval process.