RECLAMATION projects are making headlines in Central Visayas. Environmentalists and other concerned residents in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental are up in arms over a proposed two-island, 174-hectare reclamation project. They don't share the excitement of Mayor Felipe Remollo over a project that includes a yacht club that will become "the docking space of the rich and famous of Dumaguete and the adjoining cities" and a "heliport in which the visitors and all the dignitaries can land their choppers" as the project proponent's promotional video advertises. Marine protected areas with corals and seagrass have to go. According to the construction company and proponent EM Cuerpo Inc., the objective of the ambitious 5-G Ready Smart Dumaguete City project is to "solve the wastewater pollution issue and to put an end to an enormous ocean wave threat" (Negros Chronicle, July 11, 2021).
In Consolacion, Cebu, 235.8 hectares of foreshore and island-type reclamation are forcing shipyard operators to relocate. The shipyards have been located in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion's most populous barangay (village), for more than half a century. But this year, Mayor Joannes Alegado told them that they must go. Shipping companies and the Philippine Navy reportedly prefer the Tayud-based shipyards to other shipyards due to proximity. An estimated 25 percent of Tayud's 23,208 residents are said to depend on the shipyards for employment and livelihood.
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