Philippine locals lose hope as China-funded bridge threatens 'biologically priceless' Paradise Reef

With white sand beaches and pristine waters, Samal Island is among the most popular tourist destinations in Davao del Norte, a province in the Philippines' far south.

It is one of the few areas in the Davao region where divers can access an abundance of hard and soft corals - barely 500 metres from the shore - at the aptly-named Paradise Reef.

Located in the Pakiputan Strait and stretching to the Davao Gulf, the reef is home to some 100 species of fish and century-old giant clams, according to locals.

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But if a proposed China-funded bridge connecting Samal Island and Davao City went ahead, the rich marine ecosystem of Paradise Reef will be threatened, marine biologists say.

Paradise Reef must be protected at all costs because it is one of the few healthy reef areas in the Davao Gulf, said Cleto Nanola, a professor at the department of biological sciences and environmental studies at University of the Philippines Mindanao.

"There will be major species lost because of habitat degradation and siltation from the construction, and it will take so much time for the reef to recover, leading to biodiversity loss," Nanola said.

The reef is one of the main attractions in the region, attracting around 200-250 tourists every day, according to the Rodriguez-Lucases, a wealthy local family that owns the site and runs the Paradise Island Beach Resort that has housed the coral garden for over 35 years now.

Samal Island is a protected area that was declared a Mangrove Swamp Forest Reserve by the central government in 1981. Hizon, the town in Davao where the other landing of the bridge will be built, is also a local protected area.

Currently, people commute between Davao and Samal Island by a passenger boat that takes less than 10 minutes.

The Samal Island-Davao City Connector, a project estimated to cost around US$400 million, is expected to make transport more convenient for 3,700 households.

The bridge aims to increase economic development and trade between Samal Island and Davao and generate employment for the locals who will be working for five years on its construction.

In January, a writ of possession for the site was granted to the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways, despite the Rodriguez-Lucas family's disapproval of the move.

Environmentalists in the region have also been critical of the project. Marine biologist Nanola said the most worrying impact was the siltation expected from the digging of boreholes.

Carmela Marie Santos, director of the environmental group Ecoteneo and convenor of Save Samal Reefs Alliance, said that her organisation expects tens of kilometres of siltation, referring to an increased concentration of sediments in the water.

Santos said any work currently being carried out was unlawful due to a temporary restraining order filed at the Supreme Court being in place to prevent the construction of the bridge while the Rodriguez-Lucas family is still locked in negotiations over the project.

The Rodriguez-Lucas family declined to be interviewed for this article because the matter remains under consideration in the Philippine Supreme Court.

Construction began earlier this year and will see 98 boreholes drilled around 500 metres deep into the seabed, decapitating corals, generating siltation and sedimentation, and causing noise.

The project is expected to employ more than 300 Chinese workers, as well as some locals, and work on a wharf has already begun.

There are other risks, too.

"When they were doing the soil sampling in December, helicopters were flying around the area with an estimated noise of 100dB. It affected marine wildlife from the shore and even marine mammals documented from Talicud island, an island 18km (11.2 miles) from the site, because they travel 80-200km a day," Santos said.

In June last year, a pod of dolphins was also photographed near Talicud island. Loud noises affect dolphins' ability to hunt. A Facebook post by Davao resident Darrell Blatchley on August 2 showed a dead spinner dolphin with ruptured eardrums in Punta Dumalag Matina, just across from Samal Island.

"In [the project's] Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Compliance Certificate issued in December 2020, there was no mention of the impact of marine mammals and mitigation measures. In the EIS, the study dismissed the impact as not significant because Talicud island is 18km away," Santos said.

To manage siltation, the national resources department has recommended building silt curtains to prevent contamination of the greater Pakiputan Strait. However, biologists and environmentalists maintain that the building of the bridge will still cause irreversible damage to the sea.

There has been no official economic evaluation, but based on informal calculations, marine biologist John Lacson from the Paradise Island Beach Resort estimates reef damage at 360 million pesos (US$6.33 million).

"The estimate includes shoreline protection, tourism, fisheries productivity, and biodiversity. However, Paradise Reef is the only remaining healthy reef on Western Samal and is biologically priceless," he said.

Santos said that Ecoteneo, locals and the Rodriquez-Lucas family are not entirely against the bridge being built, but hope for a development that puts ecology and people first. The Rodriguez-Lucas family owns a nearby property and has offered it as an alternative landing site but petitions by Ecoteneo to relocate the bridge have gone unanswered.

In Hizon, a small fishing community and designated marine protected area where the bridge is planned to land on the Davao side, locals have largely lost hope of protecting their coast, with many fishermen abandoning their livelihoods after starting to incur losses.

Leo Manila, 61, is one of the few fishermen left. But he only fishes to feed himself - his current source of income is mostly derived from working as a guide for other anglers who come to the area.

"There are professionals who hire us with our boats to go fishing with them around the Davao Gulf, around 30-40 minutes away from our shore. They catch huge fishes and they pay us 500-1,500 pesos (US$9-US$26) depending on their catch," said Manila.

While the locals of Hizon, who are mostly ex-fishermen and the urban poor, are worried about the environmental impact of the new bridge, they also have more pressing concerns, according to Gideon Cruz, chairman of Hizon's Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council.

Cruz said that his group's motto is "we can only save what we can", as they felt powerless against the forces of development and tourism.

"They said the construction will generate jobs for us for the next five years, and that will help us with our expenses. Right now, we earn money when the Chinese workers on the bridge rent our boats," Manila said.

After consulting Davao City Council in May, Santos said she had learned that the contractors were not required to employ Filipino workers, suggesting Chinese workers would be prioritised.

Cruz of the management council emphasised that the group understood the importance of the reef and the shoreline, but said people in his community required secure livelihoods before they can even consider issues concerning reef protection.

"I used to not believe in climate change, but we can notice the difference in the temperature of our waters compared to the past. We try our best to take care of the sea, but there are always bigger forces than us, making it hard for us to save what we can."

This story was produced with support from Internews' Earth Journalism Network.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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