TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) -- The voice of the people prevailed in the controversial proposal to reclaim certain parts of the capital city’s coastline as Tagbilaran City Mayor Jane C. Yap shut down the plan to reclaim 153 hectares of land parallel to the city’s coastlines.
The City Council of Tagbilaran City tackled the Tagbilaran City Waterfront Development Project, which involves the reclamation of 153 hectares of land along the shorelines of Booy to Mansasa districts.
The reclamation project covers seagrass beds and reef areas and imperils the protected Mabaw Reef.
The project hopes to gain more prime real estate properties and increase local revenues.
The City Council has started discussing the city government’s proposed Public and Private Partnership (PPP) ordinance, which was also patterned after the country’s laws and the Philippine Reclamation Authority’s guidelines, which will govern the proposed reclamation project.
The city council started to tackle the proposal but as soon as word about the reclamation project proposal got out, Tagbilaranons aired their sentiments using the social and traditional media to criticize the city government for seemingly keeping the information from the people.
Local environmentalists started to protest, citing environmental impacts that could be irreversible and deprive more people of the right to enjoy nature.
“When we accepted the proposal, it did not mean that it would be built immediately. We accepted it to hear about the economic development opportunities that could also potentially increase our income,” Yap stated in a press statement.
As Tagbilaran City currently collects P84M in real property tax revenues, the proposed project can boost real property collection to P500M annually.
Business tax collection would consequently increase from P120M to between P800-900 million, not counting yet the 57,000 jobs that could be generated by the project.
Caught in a bind, instead of following the process in the PPP ordinance that puts the public hearing and consultations in the final stages of the project, the city government scheduled public consultations.
“From our series of public consultations, the people wanted to see the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) of the project,” Yap said.
But with the proposed project still in its beginning stages, the EIS has not been submitted, city officials said.
With the snowballing opposition to the project, the city government finally trashed the proposal.
“We will not continue with the activities related to the Tagbilaran City Waterfront Development Project, because we have a consultative and participative style of leadership,” the lady mayor announced during a press conference held on November 24.
The city conducted a series of public consultations on the proposed project, down to the grassroots level, to address concerns of the environmental impacts of the reclamation.
“My priority will always be our people and our natural environment. The city government of Tagbilaran will always listen to the voice of the people through its mission of consultative and participative governance,” Yap said.
“While we envision economic growth for Tagbilaran in order to provide more employment opportunities in our communities, we always consider the environmental impact of our economic policies and programs as a way to protect our rich natural resources for the future generations of Tagbilarananons,” she bared.
Earlier, the Tagbilaran City government tapped the United States Agency for International Development in a pilot project that empowers the civil society to participate in executive and legislative decisions, especially when it concerns the use of tax money.
Focusing on democratic governance, Tagbilaran City accessed foreign technical assistance in building open, responsive, and accountable institutions and processes that serve the needs and preferences of the public.
Set as a measure to assure people’s participation in governance, this move allowed the community to be heard and also empowered citizens to take part in key government policies and decisions.
The project was successful in convincing the city government to open a space for civil society participation in local governance to ensure that the underserved, underprivileged, and marginalized sectors can have a voice in how the city should govern.
“The city's legislative body in the Sangguniang Panglunsod opened up its committee memberships to two more representatives from Civil Society Organizations operating in the city. These two members participate in governance and enjoy voting rights,” said SP Councilor and Housing and Urban Development Chair, Atty. Nerio Zamora III. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)
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