INTERNATIONAL advocacy organization Oceana urged local governments to prioritize fisheries management, ecological protection, promote food and nutritional security, and ensure resiliency of marine habitats and communities from dump-and-fill projects and climate change.

'The local governments have a shared responsibility with national agencies in the maintenance of ecological balance and thus should take the overall responsibility in their jurisdiction that proposed projects do not harm coastal and marine resources and the livelihoods of their constituents including those in residing along the coasts. Allowing ecologically disastrous projects such as dump-and-fill known as land reclamation is inconsistent with that mandate,' said Oceana vice president Gloria Estenzo Ramos.