There weren’t enough people around yesterday to kill Lapu-Lapu City’s proposed reclamation project.Lack of quorum in the Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting saved the 400-hectare project from the chopping board. But the relief may only be temporary. Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia intends to call a special RDC meeting “as soon as possible” to deal with the project she isn’t keen to approve. “We will just call for a special meeting to confirm our presence and existence,” said Garcia, RDC chairperson for Central Visayas, after the secretariat said there was no quorum to pass a resolution deferring implementation of Mayor Arturo Radaza’s pet project. The Lapu-Lapu City government plans to undertake the P10-billion reclamation project along Magellan's Bay at the northern part of Mactan Island before the year ends. The project will be implemented through a joint venture with any local investor, said City Administrator Teodulo Ybañez. Based on a primer published in local papers, the 400-hectare reclamation project was conceptualized by the provincial government in 1991 when the governor was then Lito Osmeña. It was aimed to enhance the “dynamic and steady growth of Lapu-Lapu City.” But the project was raised before the RDC following apprehensions by several inter-agency bodies, also chaired by Garcia, that it would affect the flow of water at the Mactan Channel and other nearby infrastructure like the Mactan Cebu International Airport and the Mactan Economic Zone. Garcia said Lapu-Lapu officials failed to seek the approval of the province and the RDC for the project. During the RDC-7 full council meeting yesterday, Ricky Poca, chairman of the RDC Development Administration Committee, read a draft resolution seeking the deferment of the project until the Lapu-Lapu city government complies with requirements such as public hearing and agency clearances. In the draft resolution, the RDC also asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) to reconsider their previous approval of the project. For 30 minutes, officials debated over the reclamation project. Ybañez and Lapu-Lapu assistant legal officer Michael Dignos defended the project amid questions about its viability raised by Representatives Pablo Garcia (Cebu's second district) and son Pablo John Garcia (Cebu's third district), among others. To end the discussion, Governor Garcia moved to divide the house and vote on the resolution. But Ybañez for a roll call first to determine if there were enough members present.
At that time, only 21 voting members remained, according to RDC secretary Eric Carreon. To have a quorum, 31 of the about 60 voting members should be present. Some 35 voting members showed up at the start of the meeting about 10 a.m. Most of them heads were government agencies. Three governors showed up –Garcia of Cebu, Emilio Macias II of Negros Oriental and Orlando Fua of Siquijor. Among the mayors in Central Visayas, only Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez of Cebu attended the meeting. Aside from Pablo and Pablo John, Rep. Benhur Salimbangon also attended but he left in the afternoon. The Lapu-Lapu reclamation project was included in the “other matters” of the agenda which was taken up past 2 p.m. By then, only 21 voting members had remained. Since there was no quorum, Garcia was forced to defer the approval of the resolution until the next session. RDC meetings are held quarterly but Garcia said she would call for a special session.. The resolution to defer the project was strongly objected to by Ybañez, who represented Mayor Radaza.
“Passing this (RDC) resolution would set back the development of Lapu Lapu City,” he said. “We relay our utmost appeal for this body to reconsider because the things that have been asked have already been done.”
Dignos, Lapu-Lapu assistant legal officer, said the project would not obstruct the Mactan Channel which is used as entry and exit point by shipping companies, since the reclamation project would be implemented at the Magellan's Bay from barangay Ibo to Punta Engaño. Pablo said the reclamation project may affect the province's plan to establish an international port in Liloan town across it. “The feasibility study for the (port) project is already there. It is just waiting for funding. Having the reclamation will affect the project to establish an international port in the Province of Cebu,” he said. Governor Garcia announced during her State of the Province Address that she was putting up two international seaports –one in Naga City in the south and another in Liloan in the north. “The development of these ports in the north and in the south will decongest the existing international port in the city, and free ships from the burden of having to negotiate the increasingly tricky Mactan Channel,” she said in her SOPA. Ybañez said the reclamation project was ready for implementation after President Arroyo approved the project. Studies and consultations were completed, he said. But Pablo John said only the provincial government is authorized to implement reclamation projects. A Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippine Estates Authority (PEA) dated September 1989, authorizes the province to undertake reclamation projects on Cebu island and nearby islets of Olango, Camotes, Bantayan group of islands and Mactan Island. “To this date, the MOA has not been rescinded or revoked,” said Pablo John. The RDC resolution said that even the South Reclamation Project of the Cebu City government had its endorsement. Dignos said the authority of the province to undertake reclamation projects was revoked in 1999 when the Office of the President ruled on the case between the provincial government and the Malayan Integrated Industries Corp in favor of the latter. In March 2002, the PRA wrote the provincial government that “all reclamation projects shall be approved by the President on the recommendations of the PRA” to put an end to a dispute involving the province and the municipalities of Carmen and Alcantara on the planned implementation of reclamation projects in these areas. Dignos also pointed out that the proposed Lapu-Lapu reclamation project was approved by the Provincial Board and the RDC. But Pablo retorted that the “Office of the President cannot revoke a contract. Only the court can determine if the contract is void. In the rule of law, that principle cannot be disregarded.” Pablo John said the provincial resolution passed in June 2000 only approved Lapu-Lapu City's comprehensive land use plan, which merely indicated the city's plan to implement a reclamation project. Marlene Rodriguez, National Economic Development Authority (Neda) director for Central Visayas, said the RDC did not approve the reclamation project yet but merely included it in the Regional Investment Development Program (RIDP), a list of projects that need funding and proposed to be implemented from 2004 to 2010. “But the inclusion of a proposed project in the RDIP does not mean that it is already being endorsed by the RDC for full implementation because the project, especially if it is of the magnitude...., will require a feasibility study,” the RDC resolution said. Rodriguez said that Lapu-Lapu City officials wrote her on Aug. 14, 2007 seeking the issuance of a “no objection certification” on the proposed project. But she declined because she was not given a copy of the project proposal. Proposals to implement a reclamation project on the island would need the approval of the Provincial Reclamation Authority which is under the Cebu provincial government before this is reviewed by Neda. A favorable endorsement would be used by RDC as basis in endorsing the project to the PRA. Rodriguez said that because of their disregard of the procedure, Lapu-Lapu City was not issued an Environment Compliance Certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Pablo John Garcia said Lapu Lapu city officials “stretched” facts to make the President approve their reclamation project. “This is a misrepresentation of facts. This is a basis to ask the President to reconsider her approval of the project,” said Pablo John. | 
