In time for World Wetlands Day, Filipino environmentalists, artists, students, fisherfolk, and urban poor residents living along Laguna de Bay gathered at the Sucat People’s Park for the Philippine observance of World Wetlands Day 2018.
The celebration put its spotlight on Laguna de Bay this year to raise the red flag over the looming destruction of its ecosystem and of the livelihood and homes along the bay. Participants challenged Pres. Duterte to implement a nationwide ban on sites targeted for reclamation.
Organizers Earth Island Institute and Nilad say that past and present administrations have been paving the way for a reclamation project in Laguna de Bay under the Duterte government’s Build-Build-Build economic policy. The Laguna Lake Expressway Dike Project (LLEDP) will reclaim the bay to build expressway and road dikes from Taguig, Muntinlupa to various provinces of Southern Tagalog.
Participating organizations also urged the president to rehabilitate and protect Philippine wetlands and shorelines. “Laguna Lake is seriously under threat from factories to human waste, to reclamation and that threat of constructing a vast highway. This year’s celebration aims to be a collaborative event attracting participation not just from environmental advocates and organizations but local communities, organizations around the lake to collectively oppose reclamation,” said Trixie Concepcion of Earth Island Institute – Philippines.
“The LLEDP is just one of the over 50 anti-people projects under the Laguna De Bay Basin 2020 outlined by the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA). This anti-poor plan primarily involves the privatization and conversion of the lake,” she added.
Concepcion further noted that the project “will only benefit large local and foreign entrepreneurs and will result in the destruction of the lake, loss of livelihood for our fishermen and homes of poor people living around the lake”.
Those present in the day-long activity were served with an array of seafood from Laguna de Bay to showcase the abundance of the lake that is currently under threat of losing due to LLEDP. Organizers conducted an anti-reclamation conference and a series of art workshops, which were mostly attended by residents and fisherfolk residing around Laguna de Bay, along their supporters and environmental activists.
The event culminated in a concert featuring Tropical Depression, Talahib People’s Music, Eloisa Jayloni, Dyandi Percussions, and Musicians for Peace to further amplify their call to save Laguna de Bay.
