Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya (Pamalakaya)-Navotas members held a protest action on July 23 in front of Navotas City Hall to hold the local government accountable for the city’s flooding. The fisherfolk blame the 650-hectare Navotas Coastal Bay Reclamation Project for the city’s flooding.

The local government and its partner Argonbay Construction Company are pushing the reclamation project. Argonbay is a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation owned by Ramon Ang.

Pamalakaya-Navotas chairperson Romel Escarial blame the reclamation for the flood’s rapid rise and and slow recession in the city and other parts of Metro Manila. “Fisherfolk and residents of Navotas acutely feel the effects of dumping in the sea,” he said.

Besides flooding, the reclamation devastated the livelihood of fisherfolk and residents along the city’s coast. Pamalakaya-Navotas states that the reclamation project is behind the demolition of hundreds of oyster farms that began on March 16, 2024. This covered more than six kilometers in length and three kilometers in width of oyster farms.

“These projects no longer have reason to continue,” Escarial added.

Meanwhile, the fisherfolk also condemned the Marcos administration for failing in disaster preparedness and response. Pamalakaya initially estimates more than 3,000 fisherfolk in Navotas to have been affected by the onslaught of Typhoon Crising and the rains brought by the southwest monsoon.