• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod is set to discuss and decide on the request of businessman Jerry Sy for a Resolution of No Objection (RONO) on the proposed reclamation of 168 hectares along the coast of Barangay Banago.
“The proposed reclamation area has a total of 168 hectares subject to the approval of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA),” Sy, of Silver Dragon Construction, said in his recent letter to Councilor Claudio Jesus “Kalaw” Puentevella.
The reclamation project, worth P4.2 billion, will be for mixed use, or for industrial and commercial purposes, divided into three stages for a period of 15 years, Sy added in the letter initially calendared for SP discussion July 3, but was shelved, since only seven councilors and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran were present during the 105th regular session.
But the SP adopted the consolidated report of Puentevella’s Committee on Environment and Ecology, on the Feb. 27, 2023 and June 24, 2024 public hearings on Sy’s request for a RONO.
In the first hearing, Banago Punong Barangay Ricky Mijares explained that the “affected residents situated along the coastal areas, more or less 85 percent in total, depends on the resources/livelihood from the sea as fisherfolk,” the committee report said. “(Mijares claimed that) if the reclamation project (pushes through), his constituents will be directly affected.”
Sy, meanwhile, said “the reclamation project, if approve, will not only benefit the proponent but also the PRA and the city government of Bacolod.”
This is so because half of the area that will be approved to the proponent will be allotted for the PRA and the city government, he added. “In the event (that) this will (be) materialized, this will considerably decongest the traffic condition of the city, at the same time, will promote employment in the city and it also increase the revenue of the local government.”
The committee, during the second public hearing June 24, took note of the Feb. 5, 2024 memorandum issued by Mayor Alfredo Benitez to the City Planning and Development Office to oppose all tenurial applications in Bacolod, and its bearing on the proposed reclamation project and pending RONO request. | CGC
