CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) said any ongoing reclamation project in the region is deemed illegal as it has yet to issue any area clearance this year for such activity in the region.
Engineer Edda Abendan, Engineer II of DENR-7, said that although the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) is the agency that authorizes or issue permits for reclamation projects in the country, such project shall not proceed if they don’t acquire area clearance from DENR.
“So any ongoing reclamation project with no area clearance is considered illegal,” Abendan said.
Aside from area clearance, proponents of any reclamation projects are also required to acquire an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
She revealed that at present, there are two ongoing reclamation for port projects in the region, one in Cebu and another in Negros Oriental.
“Although they’ve applied for area clearance, but we still reported them to PRA because they should not start yet reclaiming,” she added.
She also admitted that for reclamation project, DENR has no authority to stop the project. However, he added, they can report them to PRA for possible sanction. /elb