Complete termination of the Sangley airport project pushed
Manila, Philippines – The Sangley International Airport in Cavite City should be completely terminated to save the waters of Manila Bay from further destruction, and most of all, to prevent the massive displacement of fishing families that would be affected by the project, according to the country’s largest small fisherfolk federation on Monday.
Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla has cancelled the China-backed Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) project; it involves reclamation of 2,980 hectares of Manila Bay waters. The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) said that the airport project would directly and indirectly affect at least 26, 000 fishing and coastal families from Cavite City, Noveleta, Tanza, Naic, Rosario, Kawit, and Bacoor City.
“The project could’ve displaced thousands of fishing families and posed adverse effects to the marine ecosystem, affecting fishing activities in the long run,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson said in a statement.
“We humbly appeal to Cavite Governor Remulla to completely terminate the airport project. The people of Cavite, most especially the fisherfolks and coastal population, do not need an airport, but a coastal community integrated to a sustainable and decent livelihood,” Hicap, a resident fisherman in Rosario, Cavite added.
PAMALAKAYA said they “welcome” the cancellation of the project, which would be funded by the China Construction & Communications Corporation (CCCC), a Chinese firm engaged in environmental destruction through large-scale reclamation in the South China Sea. Satellite images also showed that a subsidiary of CCCC dredging company operated most of its giant barges digging sand from the seabed and piling it on remote coral atolls in the Panganiban Reef, Zamora Reef, and Kagitingan Reef – all located in the Kalayaan Group of Islands in the West Philippine Sea.
“It’s a commendation that a project involving a notorious Chinese plunderer of marine resources has been cancelled. But while we welcome such decision, we demand that the airport project be completely terminated as it runs contrary to the rehabilitation program being carried out across Manila Bay. Reclamation should be no place in Manila Bay and the entire Philippine waters. Governor Remulla should instead heed the call of the fisherfolk, environmentalists, and other advocacy groups not to pursue any reclamation activity in Manila Bay,” Hicap, former Anakpawis Party-list solon ended.
The Cavite Governor is expecting for the restart of negotiation of the airport project with any qualified partner on October 2021. ###
