Wanton destruction

Thanks to the still widening corruption scandal, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources may finally draw official attention to the destruction of Laguna de Bay.

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Specifically, to what has been classified as a flood control project along Circumferential Road 6, but which DENR satellite imagery has shown to be reclamation projects.

DENR Undersecretary for Integrated Environmental Science Carlos Primo David told the Senate last Monday that the projects could in fact cause or worsen flooding in the areas around C-6.

Reclamation is prohibited in Laguna de Bay, a source of water and fish for Mega Manila, and a body of water that plays a key role in flood mitigation.

So the reclamation projects were packaged as flood control.

Since C-6 was opened pre-pandemic, I have used the road as a shortcut to the penoy-balut wholesalers and flea markets of Taytay, and on to the attractions of Angono and Antipolo, Rizal.

And it has been dismaying to watch the picturesque lakeside view vanish progressively, from Lower Bicutan in Taguig to Taytay. The lakeside view is now obstructed by ugly properties on reclaimed land, including what looks like a cement batching plant. How can such a highly polluting operation be allowed on one of the most economically important lakes in the country?

Last year The STAR asked the DENR what it was doing about the reclamation. Of course it was a reclamation; only the Department of Public Works and Highways would consider that a flood control project. We were told that the DENR faced legal hurdles in stopping the reclamation.