Welfare or profit?

The findings from a recovered Autonomous Recovery Monitoring Structure (ARMS) device at the Alegria marine sanctuary in barangay Alegria, Cordova town early this week showed signs of marine life recovery in that area and gave good reason for environmental stakeholders to hope and cheer about.

Even without the device, the signs of recovery in the area that was previously damaged by dynamite fishing were visible to the human eye. “We retrieved quite a number of species, small species that are often unnoticed and unappreciated by ordinary individuals. This shows the diversity of our marine ecosystem and today we learned that the one in Cordova is healthy,” said Criselda Castor of the Coastal and Marine Division of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB).

A similar finding was made by environmental groups at an 11-hectare area in Toledo City that is being planned for reclamation by the Toledo City government.

While the Toledo City government reclamation project is opposed by the barangay for reasons not just political, the Cordova reclamation project appears to have everything going for it.

For one it already has an investor in SM Prime Holdings Inc. and it had gained support from the Provincial Board (PB). The reclamation project will be done not in the marine sanctuary but on the

opposite side of Cordova town, specifically on the Mactan tidal flats facing Cebu City which Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said needs to be cleaned up before it is reclaimed.

What’s curious about it is that the Cordova municipal government still has to apply for a permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which maintain that they did not receive any application for a permit from any local government unit in Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas for that matter.

Or at least the regional DENR office hasn’t received any application, as the Lapu-Lapu City government claimed through its subalterns that the Mactan North Reclamation Project had already beenforwarded to the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for review.

While the DENR has been requiring LGUs to comply with requirements, environmental groups like the Sea Knights and Oceana have been most vocal about reclamation projects particularly the Toledo City government reclamation project which will cover a portion of the protected Tañon Strait.

While Toledo City Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña insists the reclamation project will act as a pump-priming stimulus for  the city’s economy, residents of barangay Poblacion where the project will take shape insist that they need roads, health services and adequate water supply.

When push comes to shove, will the voice of the affected residents—whether they be in Toledo City, Cordova town or any place where reclamation projects will be implemented—be heeded or will the all-powerful profit motive prevail?