Supreme Court asked to stop Samal-Davao bridge project
ENVIRONMENTALISTS on Monday filed a 200-page petition before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to halt the Samal Island-Davao City Connector (SIDC) Project and declare its construction results in “actual, serious, and irreversible damage” to coral reefs in both areas.
The groups filed a Writ of Kalikasan with an urgent prayer for the issuance of a Temporary Environmental Protection Order to stop ongoing construction of the 4.76-kilometer bridge, which is damaging the Paradise Reef in Samal Island and the Hizon Marine Protected Area near Davao City.
“The bridge is already being constructed, it is destroying coastal and marine biodiversity and resources in Samal Island and Davao Gulf,” lawyer and former Environment Undersecretary Antonio Gabriel M. La Viña told reporters in Filipino. “So, we’re hopeful that the Supreme Court will act on this petition soon.”
Also, among the petitioners were Ecoteneo, Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), Sustainable Davao Movement, and Dyesabel Philippines.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.
In January, the DPWH said it is on track to complete the P23.52-billion project by September 2028 as it reached a completion rate of 12%.
The petitioners argued that the SIDC Project violates the constitutional right to a “balanced and healthful ecology,” which includes the preservation of coral reef systems.
The project reveals “both a slow and an immediate death of the coral reefs in the Davao gulf and of the ecosystems, including local communities, that collectively depend on these reefs for their continued existence,” the petition read.
It added that the destruction of the reefs poses an actual threat to local communities near the area.
“If the coral reefs that have been relied upon by peoples and ecosystems for centuries would die, it is a tragedy — where the powerful, the State itself, plays god.”
They also asked the SC to declare the Environmental Compliance Certificate, issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in relation to the project, as “null and void” as well as direct respondents to implement measures to restore and rehabilitate the coral reefs.
Among the respondents were the DPWH, DENR, Samal Island Protected Landscape and Seascape Protected Area Management Board, and the China Road and Bridge Corp. The project is expected to be completed by September 2028. — Adrian H. Halili
