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Pamalakaya to Revilla Sr: Dream on but not at the expense of fisherfolk and Manila Bay environment

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday told Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) chair Ramon Revilla Sr. that he is free to dream and it is for free but not at the expense of small fisherfolk and poor people of Cavite and the Manila Bay environment.

Pamalakaya made the statement after Revilla spoke about his dream to develop the Sangley Point in Cavite City as international logistics hub where casinos, hospitals, call centers and recreational centers would be constructed along Manila Bay.

“We cannot stop this aging and has-been actor-politician from dreaming. But please not at the expense of small fisherfolk and poor people and the fragile environment of Manila Bay,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The former senator and strong ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the P 200-billion Sangley Point Development Project can lead to various business establishments, and if completed could rival other major international ports in Asia like that in Singapore and Hong Kong and could generate jobs to people of Cavite.

“That’s the biggest pipe dream of a lifetime. The ambitious plans directed by his main benefactor in Malacañang in conspiracy with the business clients of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to make Cavite as the bastion of bogus industrial and commercial development will practically wipe out, if not place all the people of the province and the Manila Bay environment under the Intensive Care Unit,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap added,

“Please allow us to state the fact that the reclamation of Manila Bay waters did not only pave way for demolition of fishing communities and destruction of livelihood, it also facilitated and enhanced the growth marine cancer in the bay,” Pamalakaya said referring to the 2,000 hectare reclamation project the PRA has envisioned to make Sangley Point a major international seaport and container terminal in Asia.

Revilla said the reclamation project is 40 percent completed. If it is finished, it would be able to host additional export processing zones, industrial, commercial, military and tourism facilities. He said the Sangley Point conversion project was a birthday gift to him by President Arroyo.

“What a gift. He is one of the luckiest guys in town having received that P 200-billion project from the most corrupt President his country has ever had,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya said close to 3 million coastal people in Metro Manila and Cavite are still dependent to fishing as principal source of livelihood, and any move to transform or convert Manila Bay for other purposes like the $15-billion casino project, the Cavite Phase II Coastal Road project and the Sangley Point Development Project will have a killing impact on the livelihood of small fishermen, aside from the fact that they would be demolished from their communities, once construction of support structures and establishments begins.

“From 1992 to 1995, the demolitions of coastal shanties became an everyday ordeal in Pasay Reclamation area. Houses were uprooted on almost day-to-day basis. Small and big time bribery to divide the communities were conducted to facilitate the demolition of coastal communities.

The setting up of casino and resorts, including SM’s Mall of Asia was all in the master plan of the government known as Manila Bay Master Development Plan that officially started during the time of President Ramos and projected to end between 2020 and 2025.

The Pamalakaya leader recalled that 3,500 small fisherfolk in Pasay Reclamation Area and another 3,000 coastal and urban poor families along the coastal shores of Parañaque were evicted by the government of former President Ramos to pave way for the construction of the proposed casino that would make the Philippines the Las Vegas of Asia. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:08 | link | comments |
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