RECLAMATION activities at the Calmay River have already grounded to a halt since January 16 but the company behind the project said it will appeal the cease and desist order issued by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).

Dagupan City Legal Officer George Mejia said 888 Dagupan Properties Inc. has all the right to appeal, but since this is an administrative case, the sanction stays until the appeal is resolved by the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Be that as it may, the company still cannot resume its reclamation project because this is an administrative case, not a civil or criminal case,” said Mejia, a retired judge of the city court here.

The EMB issued a cease and desist order (CDO) against 888 Dagupan Properties, which was received by the company’s coordinator, Catherine Bermachea.

The company was also slapped a P50,000 fine for violating its Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), which was also revoked earlier, for undertaking backfilling work on a river bed instead of for land development.

EMB Regional Director Joel Salvador, who served the CDO, accompanied by DENR’s Atty. Joseph Estrella, said the CDO was issued because 888 Dagupan Properties was reclaiming a portion of the Calmay River but made it appear that it was backfilling for a land development project.

Bermachea, in a talk to DENR officials, admitted that what they were backfilling was inside a riverbed in a bid to recover their l.09 hectare property that was submerged by the water over the years.

Salvador said the ECC issued is not a permit for reclamation and the company should have secured the necessary licenses from other government agencies, specifically the local government unit.

The EMB acted on the complaint filed by the Dagupan city government.

When the CDO was finally issued, the company was already able to reclaim more than one hectare of a portion of the Calmay River, and was still putting sandbags on more areas.

Meanwhile, the DENR noted that the other backfilling activities by other entities along the Jose R. de Venecia Expressway Extension are in order as the project proponents have the required ECC for backfilling land areas and not any part of the river.—LM

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