Fisherfolk and mussel farmers under Pamalakaya trooped to the Navotas city hall of on March 14 to demand to the local government to allow them to rebuild their mussel farms. On this same day last year, the government demolished their mussel farms under the guise of Manila Bay “rehabilitation”. More than 200 mussel farms were demolished last year to give way to the San Miguel Corporation’s 650-hectare reclamation project in Navotas.

“While the reclamation projects in Manila Bay are pending, we should be allowed to rebuild mussel farms in our fishing grounds,” Pamalakaya-Navotas president Rommel Escarial said. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently released a study that confirmed the damage of reclamation to the ecosystem of Manila Bay.

“The DENR itself cannot hide the reclamation’s damage to the environment. So there is no reason to continue depriving mussel farmers in Navotas of their right to livelihood,” Escarial said.

The mussel farmers condemn the local government for its continued refusal to give them permits to return to their livelihoods. More than 1,000 mussel farmers and other workers in mussel farming have had their livelihoods disrupted.