Elmer Recuerdo
TACLOBAN CITY – The plan to establish a megacity township in Ormoc City hits an early snag after a municipal mayor in Leyte asks the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to look into its compliance to appropriate permit and clearances such as the environmental compliance certificate.
In a letter sent to DENR regional director Arturo Fadriquela and Environment Management Bureau director Martin Jose Despi, Palompon Mayor Ramon Ońate asked the agencies to investigate the township project “to avoid bio-diversity issues and environmental problems in the future.”
The agencies received a copy of the complaint on Monday, 5 June 2023.
Ońate said that while the project is “ideal and very utopian,” building a futuristic city within a fragile ecosystem usually does not work as planned, especially in developing countries.
“It is too good to be true for a common citizen to simply assume that this Ormoc Megacity is an eco-tourism township which pushes for development without compromising the environment and the ecosystem in it,” his letter states.
Leyte Fourth District Rep. Richard Gomez and Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez led the ground breaking of the project last March 6, 2023.
The project developer Premium Megastructures Inc., in an article published in its website, describes the soon-to-be Ormoc City Megacity Township as a city “aspires to be richer in nature within their unique and diverse environments, and where the planning and design abundantly incorporate the natural world into the daily lives of residents.”
The project plans to develop an approximately 150 hectares of prime coastal property spanning three barangays – Naungan, Lao and San Juan – into a thriving smart business center featuring residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional spaces.
The township project will be constructed right beside the Naungan Mangrove Eco-Park, a 200-hectare mangrove-protected area.
Rep. Gomez likens the project to Bonifacio Global City and Rockwell Center in Makati. “Ormoc Megacity will be the same,” he said during the kick-off program.
Gomez said the project will strengthen Ormoc City’s bid to become the “most progressive” and “richest city” in Eastern Visayas.
Ońate said the Naungan Mangrove Forest has been a subject of academic research due to its rich biodiversity and its contribution to carbon sequestration.
“It is common knowledge that Naungan Mangrove Forest plays a very important role as a critical habitat and feeding site for migratory birds taking shelter and mandatory rest at the wetlands of Ormoc Bay,” he says.
He added that Naungan Wetland in Ormoc City is one of the seven migratory birds’ sites in Eastern Visayas where the presence of diverse and numerous migratory birds was documented.
Among the migratory birds that were seen in the area include Philippine Duck, Little Egret, Greenshank, Purple Heron, Common Sandpiper, Whiskered Tern, Great Know, Whimbrel, Lesser sand Plover, Terek Sandpiper, Rufous night Heron, Kentish Plover, Intermediate Egret, Common Tern, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Javan pond Heron and Black-winged Stilt.