Saturday, July 12, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
CEBU CITY -- The lack of a quorum kept the Regional Development Council (RDC) from passing Friday two resolutions that would have blocked Lapu-Lapu City's 400-hectare Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project.
Discussion heated up as the Provincial Government asserted its authority to undertake or approve reclamation projects through its Cebu Reclamation Authority. Lapu-Lapu City officials were also told they should have consulted the Regional Development Council (RDC), instead of bypassing it.
Lapu-Lapu City disagreed.
Assistant City Attorney Michael Dignos said that no less than Malacañang stripped the Province and the Public Estates Authority (PEA) of its power over reclamation projects.
When Executive Order 543 created the Philippine Reclamation Authority, in effect it replaced the PEA and the Cebu Reclamation Authority, Dignos added.
Besides, the project will not require National Government funding, because the City itself will seek funds for it.
1999 order
The RDC is not giving up. Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, RDC chairperson, announced a special council meeting whose details will be disseminated by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda).
Lapu-Lapu's argument, according to Dignos, is that Malacañang decided last July 28, 1999 to revoke a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Cebu Province and the PEA (now defunct). That agreement had given the Province the sole authority to reclaim all its "commercially feasible areas" including, Mactan, Olango, Bantayan and the Camotes group.
Also revoked was a MOA between Malacañang and the Malayan Integrated Industries Corp. that gave the latter the exclusive right to undertake the Cordova Reclamation and Development Project.
Lapu-Lapu's proposed reclamation covers the foreshores of adjacent barangays Punta Engaño, Mactan, Buaya and Ibo. The City plans to use it for an international port, expansion of the Mactan Economic Zone, a commercial district and tourism projects.
Questions
But some RDC members questioned the project's viability.
Among the objections raised was that the project could constrict the Mactan Channel and worsen congestion at the Cebu ports.
The twin resolutions introduced by Roderic Poca, of the private sector, ask President Arroyo to reconsider her approval of the project and for the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to consider the RDC's inputs and endorsement before approving reclamation projects.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district) accused the City of misrepresenting the facts through a paid newspaper ad claiming that the RDC and the Provincial Government already approved the project.
"To be generous about it, this is a stretching of facts," he said. It was the land use classification of the existing land and not the land to be reclaimed that the Provincial Board approved in its June 5, 2000 resolution, he added.
Neda Director for Central Visayas Marlyn Rodriguez said the inclusion of the proposed Mactan North Reclamation Project in the 2005-2010 Central Visayas Regional Development Investment Program only meant that it would be considered for "possible funding." Approval wasn't guaranteed yet.
She also said Lapu-Lapu had asked for a "no objection" endorsement on August 14 last year, but she rejected it until the City submits the project's feasibility study.
Garcia proposed to amend the twin resolutions by asserting the Province's prior right to reclaim.
Deal
Dignos, however, insisted that the authority of the Province was revoked by Malacañang in its July 28, 1999 decision.
Nearly 10 years before that, on Sept. 7, 1989, the PEA and Cebu Province had entered into a MOA that gave the Province the sole authority to carry out reclamation work within its territory.
Dignos added that Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district), being the governor at the time Malacañang revoked the contract in 1999, should have contested the President's decision all the way to the Supreme Court.
Governor Garcia called for a vote during yesterday's RDC session at the Capitol Social Hall, but Lapu-Lapu City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez suggested a roll call to verify if the body still had a quorum.
It did not. Only 21 remained present, as the others left after lunch. The RDC requires 31 members for a quorum. (AIV of Sun.Star Cebu)
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