Solidarity and People’s Advocacy Network-Central Visayas
(SPAN-CV)
c/o People’s Fair Trade Shop, Door 1 YMCA Front Building
Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City, Philippines
Tel. No. (032) 412-5893, Fax No. (032)412-5892
A RESOLUTION
ASKING THE JAPAN BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (JBIC)
TO REVEAL THE RESULT OF THE “METRO CEBU DEVELOPMENT PROJECT III:
A SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF AFFECTED FAMILIES”,A RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY PROF. EMMA PORIO, PhD; AND TO ENDORSE SPAN TO REPRESENT IN THE MULTI PARTY COMMITTEE TO STUDY AND ATTEND TO THE COMPENSATION DEMANDS OF THE AFFECTED COMMUNITIES OF THE CEBU SOUTH RECLAMATION PROJECT (CSRP) AND THE CEBU SOUTH COASTAL ROAD PROJECT (CSCRP)
Whereas, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) extended a bilateral loan to the Cebu City Government worth Y2.418B for the construction of the Cebu South Reclamation Project (CSRP), and Y3.174B for the construction of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project (CSCRP);
Whereas, the construction of the said mega-projects damaged the 306 has. rich fishing ground within Cebu Strait (before Kawit Island) which is the main source of livelihood of thousands of fisherfolks living in the coastal barangays of Pasil, Ermita, Duljo-Fatima, Sawang Calero, Suba, Mambaling, San Nicolas, Cogon Pardo, Basak Pardo, Inawayan, Bulacao Pardo, Poblacion Pardo, all of Cebu City and San Roque and Tangke of Talisay City;
Whereas, CSRP and CSCRP not only affected the fisherfolks but also the people who depends on the fishing trade such as vendors, laborers, workers, and drivers;
Whereas, the construction of such mega-projects caused a steep depression to the economic situation of the communities directly affected, thus denying the parents the capacity to support their children’s education; damaged the shorelines causing huge environmental impact and health hazards, and exposed the communities to indescribable threat to dislocation because of the aligned “horizontal developments” of the CSCRP and CSRP such as access roads, power and water development, eco-tourism and industrial zones and many others;
Whereas, from the start of the construction of such projects in 1997 until its finish in the first quarter of 2004, the directly affected communities were denied compensation of the damages wrought by these projects to their lives and livelihood, abode, health, education of the children, and to the damaged environment;
Whereas, various avenues have been launched by the affected people to find ways for JBIC to listen to their grievances and look into their situation, until the intervention of the Solidarity and People’s Advocacy Network (SPAN) came in 1999 up the present. SPAN, in journey with the affected communities, pushed for JBIC to conduct a research on the impact of these mega-projects to the lives and livelihood of the affected communities and pushed for JBIC to commit its accountability to the affected people;
Whereas, last year a research was conducted by Prof. Emma Porio of the Ateneo de Manila and was funded by JBIC. It was titled “The Metro Cebu Development Project III: A Social Impact Assessment of Affected Families” and was supposed to be presented back to the stakeholders of the CSRP and CSCRP on March, 2004 but until now it has remained secret especially to the affected communities;
Whereas, the research result is very important because it is the key to JBIC’s commitments on its role and accountability on the construction of CSRP and CSCRP as funder. The research result also contained the resolutions and recommendations for compensation and relocation as demanded by the affected communities;
Wherefore, be it RESOLVED that we, the participants of this August 26-30, 2004 UCCP National Council Meeting, in unity with the affected communities and SPAN, call for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to present and reveal the research result to the stakeholders, particularly the affected communities, and for JBIC to attend to the compensation of the damages wrought by the CSRP and CSCRP to the lives and livelihood of the affected communities, dislocation of their abode, health, education of the children, and damages to the environment.
RESOLVED FURTHER, that this UCCP National Council recommends SPAN to sit in the multi-party committee to be created to study and attend to the compensation and relocation demands of the affected communities.
August 29, 2004.
Sponsored by the following SPAN Convenors:
Bishop Ebenezer C. CaminoThe Right Rev. Felomino N. Ang
Visayas Jurisdictional Area BishopDiocesan Bishop of Cebu and Bohol
UCCPIFI
Bishop Isias L. BingtanRev. Fr. Herbert Fadriquela
UCCP Bishop EmiritusExecutive Director, VIMROD-IFI
Rev. Steve BerdinRev. Danilo Patalinghog
UCCP PastorCENDET Director