HUNDREDS OF MEMBERS of Anakpawis, Pamalakaya, Kadamay and Gabriela protested in Manila on February 18 against the 32,000-hectare Manila Bay reclamation project.

According to Pamalakaya and Kadamay, the said rehabilitation project is being used as a pretext for the reclamation of the area and the construction of commercial structures for eco-tourism which will result in the eviction of 300,000 urban poor and fisherfolk from their homes and the loss of their livelihoods.

The Philippine Reclamation Authority itself admitted that there are 43 reclamation projects in Manila Bay. A component of this plan is the 140-hectare Solar City project of the Manila Goldcoast Development Corporation, the 1,200-hectare SM Prime Holdings project which will purportedly construct a “city,” and the 407-hectare City of Pearl project of UAA Kinming Development, a Chinese corporation, in partnership with Duterte’s crony, Dennis Uy. Duterte subsumed the agency under his office to monopolize profits from its 120 reclamation projects across the country.

The protesters also lambasted the 50-hectare Manila Harbour Center expansion project by R-II Builders, Inc., 50-hectare project of the Baseco Rehabilitation and Development, Inc. (Bradi), the 40-hectare reclamation of the PRA and the 140-hectare Navotas Boulevard Business Park. These projects have already been approved by the local government of Manila.