What was all the haste for? This was the question asked by onlookers at the manner the proposed reclamation project in Panglao is being disposed of by its critics and opponents. Last week, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) hastily passed a resolution holding in abeyance all reclamation projects in Panglao. The haste was evident in the fact that it was passed even before the lawmakers could hear the side of the project proponent. “If there was any doubt about the desire of the majority in the provincial board, that hasty resolution erased all that,” a Panglao resident said. This is made even more suspicious because the chairman of the SP committee of environment in the previous administration was then Board Member Alfonso Damalerio II who is now provincial administrator. His committee signed the resolution endorsing the Oasis Leisure Island Development Inc. (OLIDI) project to then Gov. Erico Aumentado.
The current environment committee chair is Board Member Abeleon Damalerio, younger brother of the provincial administrator. “What is the reason for the younger brother's decision to overturn the resolution authored by his elder brother? If there is anything wrong with it, why are we being kept in the dark about it?” the source asked. The SP resolution followed another hasty resolution by the Panglao Sangguniang Bayan (SB). Both resolutions overturned the stand issued by their predecessors during the previous administration. Another resident commented that the haste could be due to the increasing acceptance of the project by majority of Panglao residents. This is evident in the positive feedbacks that the project has been generating in recent weeks as opposed to the perception given by its critics that they are the majority. “They are just powerful because they have all the resources and power to pressure the provincial government, the municipal government and even the media,” a third resident said.
The first resident interjected that this power is the reason why majority of the people prefer to remain anonymous when talking to the media. “We don't want any trouble that may arise because of our opinions favorable to the project,” the second resident said without elaborating. There have been reports of workers in many Alona resorts being threatened of dismissal if they talked favorably of the reclamation project. The second source said the suspicious haste in trying to dispose of the project betrays the increasing fear of project critics that their arguments will be exposed. “First they said it was about the environment, but they themselves do not want an environmental study which proves it is not about environmental concern,” he stressed.
Next, they raised the issue about the supposed lack of transparency on the project, a charge that should be more applicable to the manner that the SB and the SP passed their respective resolutions. “Depriving the project proponents their opportunity not only to present their proposals but to defend it is not transparency,” he added. The third source said he believes the project will push through in spite of all the manipulations to stop it. “We do not know which is worse, the project or the below-the-belt methods employed to undermine it,” he added. In that event, he said he is sure that the reclamation project will push through because there is a limit to the people and the levels you can control. “If the trend continues, the project will become unstoppable because even the politicians who are working against it now will reverse their stand when they realize that their political careers are at stake,” he added.
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