By Elmer V. Recuerdo | Correspondent
TACLOBAN CITY—Environmental groups and social-development advocates are asking President Duterte to stop a multibillion-pesos infrastructure project not only because of the danger that it poses, but also of the high social cost.
The Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) said the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted for the construction of the P7.9-billion tide-embankment project failed to consider environmental hazards, such as liquefaction, inland flooding and the destruction of about 97 hectares of mangroves.
The groups likened the tide embankment to the P1.4-billion antilahar megadike project constructed in Pampanga, where parts were said to be crumbling, exposing thousands of residents to danger. Residents affected by the tide-embankment project—a P7.9-billion storm-surge adaptation project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), running 27.3 kilometers from Tanauan to Tacloban City—have been petitioning to cancel the implementation.
Over 20,000 families are expected to be displaced when this project is completed.
“It is plain hypocrisy to prioritize the construction of this project over the needs of disaster survivors. It is hypocrisy that this huge project is being implemented in haste, all in the name of securing our lives, while our right to housing is sold by no less than our own government,” said Christopher Durana, an officer of Baskug Han Katawhan ha mga Komunidad nga No Build Zone (Bakhawan), an organization among residents of a coastal community in Tacloban.
“It is a big joke for the DPWH to pronounce that public consultations have been held, when we see here thousands protesting against the project. It is hypocrisy to sell this project in the altar of safety, when it actually brings more harm than relief,” he said.
“We are demanding President Duterte to stop the tide-embankment project the soonest possible time. If he is truly pro-poor, he must listen to our dissent and realign the billion-peso-worth budget to the more pressing needs of us [Supertyphoon] Yolanda survivors,” Owen Migraso of CEC said.
The CEC led an environmental investigative mission (EIM) to look into the impacts of the tide embankment on the environment and the socioeconomic situation of affected communities.
“This is a total waste of people’s money. This does not only give us a false sense of security against storm surges but makes us more vulnerable to other disasters,” said Prof. Pascualito Ilagan, a social science professor at the Eastern Visayas State University and head of Freedom from Debt Coalition, a member of non-governmental group of Coalition of Yolanda Survivors and Partners (CYSP).
Ilagan cited an earlier study of Dr. Kelvin Rodolfo, a renowned earth and environmental scientist, where it mentioned that the 4-meter-high wall would be ineffective against a storm surge. “The storm surge during Supertyphoon Yolanda went as high as 8 meters. This tide embankment can only cause flooding because it will block water from going to the sea,” he said.
Ilagan also said an infrastructure, like a tide embankment, is also ineffective, because the whole stretch of the coastal area where the project will be constructed is prone to liquefaction, which even a sturdier structure may not be able to withstand. In a statement, the CYSP, a broad coalition of groups opposing the construction of the tide-embankment project, said there was no real consultation made before it was implemented.
“The Aquino administration approved and started the implementation of this project, despite the lack of consultation with affected residents and contrary to scientific studies that the project might even enhance the risks posed to communities,” CYSP said in the statement.
More than 15,000 families living along the eastern coast of Tacloban and two other municipalities are expected to be removed from their homes to give way to this project.
Tacloban is already relocating thousands of families and resettled them in permanent shelters in the northern barangays of the city.
Image credits: Elmer Recuerdo