DENR cancels clearance for housing project in La Mesa watershed

Environment Secretary Lopez said the Environmental Clearance Certificate is not a blanket approval and can be revoked if a project is a threat to the environment. File photo | By Kristian Javier/Philstar

MANILA, Philippines — Environment Secretary Gina Lopez on Thursday announced the cancellation of a permit for a housing project in the La Mesa watershed, saying it poses a risk to the environment.

 

The housing plan involves 58 hectares of the 2,000 hectares of the La Mesa Watershed, the land around the La Mesa Reservoir.

 

"We have decided to cancel the ECC (Environmental Clearance Certificate) but clearly, this point of principle is not enough because an ECC was given," Lopez said in a televised press conference.

 

Lopez said that the ECC is not a blanket approval and is only a planning tool, which means that if a proposed project is found to be a risk to the environment, the DENR can cancel the clearance.

 

The project is supposed to be a housing complex for employees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, who are entitled to land.

 

"Unfortunately, this was the land that was decided on, and the sale of the land was done during the time of GMA," Lopez said, referring to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

 

Lopez, who opposed the housing project even while she was not with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, said they were able to gather five million signatures in three months rejecting the housing plan.

 

DENR Undersecretary Ipat Luna added that while the ECC was issued in the past, there are a lot of conditions that may have rendered the ECC ineffective.

 

One such condition is conducting a hydrologic study, which developers of the proposed housing project might not have done.

 

"So, if they are not allowed inside, not by us but by the people taking care of the area, then that might not be fulfilled at all," Luna said.

 

The project also needs a permit to cut trees to clear the area, which the DENR cannot issue because La Mesa "is already a critical watershed and a protected area." 

 

"Hence, we cannot give that condition. Hence, there is a condition that is impossible to fulfill, rendering their ECC ineffectual," Luna said.