Vol. XXII No. 1097 • Dumaguete City, Philippines • July 18 - July 24, 2021 • P15.00


Chinese contractor to subcon reclamation


A Chinese construction company has been tapped as a subcontractor of the proposed P27.343 billion reclamation project here that is facing strong opposition from a cross-section of the community.


proponent for the Private-Public Partnership that would put up a “5G-ready Smart Dumaguete City Development with coastal wastewater treatment facility with shoreline slope/wave protection, an esplanade, a marina, a modern ferry port, and open area (for a sports facility, a hospital, and a city administration hub),” signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Guandong-based China group, Poly Changda Overseas Engineering Co. on April 29, 2019.


EM Cuerpo Inc., the project


In the MOU, Poly Changda agreed to be EM Cuerpo’s subcontractor for the reclamation component of the project. As payment, EM Cuerpo will sell its share of the reclaimed land, and use the proceeds to pay the China company Poly Changda.


Initial checks reveal that Poly Changda has no license from the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board. Neither is it registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The MOU between EM Cuerpo Inc. and Poly Changda was signed seven months before formal talks were held between EM Cuerpo and Dumaguete City.


Copies of the MOU with Poly Changda surfaced online after the Dumaguete City Council passed a Resolution in its July 7 session, granting Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo to sign a Joint Venture Agreement with EM Cuerpo, the project proponent. While experts led by National


Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo explains the process of making the Private Public Partnership in a media presentation Wednesday after receiving the petitions from those opposed to the project.


174-hectare reclamation


The City Council has revised the proposed Joint Venture Agreement between the City and project proponent EM Cuerpo Inc. for the 174-hecare reclamation project along the Dumaguete coastline, to accommodate concerns raised by oppositors.


SP finetunes MOA


Scientist Dr. Angel C. Alcala, Dr. Ben S. Malayang III, Silliman University President Betty Cernol-McCann, the Catholic and Protestant churches, and netizens here and abroad are fiercely objecting to the 174-hectare reclamation that will cover 85 percent of the view of the City coastline, legal scholars in the community are also looking at the paper trail. “I got a copy of this controversial MOU last week, and my first reaction was: Is Poly Changda qualified? Where do they come from? Was this MOU really submitted to the Dumaguete Selection Committee?” asked Atty. Golda Benjamin, one of the prime oppositors of the ambitious


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48,480


Population 111,089,701 Source: Worldometers.info


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The Council made the move last Wednesday in response to a letter from Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo to Vice Mayor Karissa Tolentino-Maxino. In a media presentation also on Wednesday, Mayor Remollo said he made the request after he received several petitions from various sectors last Monday. “People are already discussing and quarreling. This is not gentleness anymore -- even to the point of casting ill motives on your elected officials,” he said. After reading their concerns, the Mayor said he surmised that the people are confused with the process. “Even the lawyers [think] that the JVA is already the Public-Private Partnership contract that we are going to enter into.”


He explained that under the law, the PPP will be entered into only after all the requirements from the Philippine Reclamation Authority and the Department of Environment & Natural Resources are complied with.


“After signing an agreement with the project proponent, the executive department will apply with the PRA, and submit the necessary documents. The PRA will then require the City and the project proponent to go through the process with the DENR, which will require an Environmental Impact Assessment, the Environmental Compliance Certificate, where there will be public consultations. This is a tedious process,” Remollo said. He said the City has had some experience with this process when they reclaimed the 1.8 hecares along the boulevard. “We got a Certificate of No- Objection from the Philippine Ports Authority, the Department of Public Works & Highways, the Department of Tourism, the Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources, and the Civil


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2nd District Cong. Manuel Sagarbarria, chairperson of the House Special Committee on the West Philippine Sea, issues a solidarity statement over Zoom to express the country’s support during the 5th anniversary of the historic arbitral award, and the launching of the Citizens Alliance for Life & the Law of the Sea during an online conference. The CALL of the Sea, headed by former Sen. Joey Lina, is a newly-organized umbrella organization that aims to mobilize civil society organizations to ensure the enforcement of the arbitral award. (Photo by Anicee de la Rama)


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