“…What would profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?…” –Matthew 16:26

President Rodrigo Duterte must immediately clarify the status of current government contracts permitting several private businesses to undertake reclamation projects along Manila Bay, stretching from Bataan to Cavite. These contracts are at the center of controversy since one of the bigger companies, Century Peak Corporation (CPC), has been granted some 1,333 hectares of land. CPC, meanwhile, is owned by Century Peak Metal Holdings Corporation (CPMHC).
CPMHC is owned and controlled by Wilfredo Keng, the complainant in the libel case against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa. There are currently accusations claiming Keng, considering the substantial expanse of land awarded to CPC, allowed himself to be used by the Duterte administration against Ressa.
In a tweet over the weekend, a user with the handle @MiaMagdalena posted: “Keng gets Manila Bay reclamation projects. Sabi na nga ba. Tarantado talaga ang Lord Digong and his alipores” – it is clear what she is trying to imply. The president proceeded with Ressa’s arrest because Keng received the reclamation project land. The tweet was later retweeted by US-based columnist Federico Dik Pascual, Jr., which exposed the tweet to even more users of the social media platform.
In order to clarify the issue, Duterte and Malacañang must issue a clarification on the Manila Bay reclamation contract.
Nearly six year ago, I wrote about reclaiming land along Manila Bay.
Originally published on October 16, 2013: “Can a local government unit [reclaim some] hectares of land from a part of the Manila Bay which falls under its territorial jurisdiction for the purpose of giving much of the reclaimed land to a private business? If we are to go by the provisions of Section 17 of Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, it would seem it cannot do that. Why not? Under Section 17 of the code, it is clear that a city can only pursue a ‘reclamation project’ if certain conditions are met. These conditions are, one, the reclamation project is intended to service the needs of the residents of the city, and two, the reclamation project is to be funded by city funds. In the projected reclamation of [hectares land from the Manila], however, it is immediately undeniable that the reclamation project is really not intended to service the needs of the residents of (the city), as, documents obtained from the City Hall would show, it is clear that much of the reclaimed land would go to a private company. It is also clear from those documents that the project is not to use any city funds, but would be solely financed by that private company.”/WDJ