Calmay reclamation grounds to a halt
THE illegal reclamation of a portion of the Calmay River has again been stopped by the operator after the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) recently confirmed to the city council that the Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against it is still valid.
At the same time, the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) passed a resolution last week calling on the EMB, an agency under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), to strictly enforce the CDO to ensure the stoppage of the backfilling of the river along one side of the Jose R. De Venecia Expressway Extension.
The resolution, proposed jointly by Councilors Alipio Serafin Fernandez and Alvin Coquia, is also asking the DENR to require the operator to remove and haul back the boulders, sand and gravel it put in to restore the river back to its original state.
EMB Regional Director Joel Salvador, upon invitation by the SP, appeared before the council two weeks ago and confirmed that the CDO he issued on January 15, 2009 remains valid and existing.
The CDO was issued after the EMB took notice that what the corporation was backfilling was actually submerged by water and therefore falls under the definition of reclamation.
According to Salvador, a private company is not qualified to undertake reclamation of a property submerged by water. Only a government agency or local government unit can do it with proper permit from the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
The CDO was issued against 888 Dagupan Properties Inc., registered under the name of one William Chua and represented by a certain Catherine Barmachea.
Salvador also said the company has yet to settle the P50,000 penalty the EMB imposed for its initial violation earlier this year.
The reclamation activities stopped after the CDO was initially served in 2009 but resumed earlier this year. It was stopped after then City Legal Officer George Mejia conducted an ocular inspection on the site. Work again resumed in June until it was seemingly stopped last week after the matter was taken up by the council.—LM
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