SCARS OF PROGRESS: 41-KM Panay road projects’ permits revoked over environmental breaches

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The Central Panay Mountain Range, a biodiversity hotspot, has been sliced by a large-scale road project built in segments so small they slipped past the environmental safeguards meant to protect them.

Only after five permits were revoked did the full picture emerge: for years, regulators approved road segments in Panay’s mountain range without recognizing they formed the 41-kilometer Panay East-West Lateral Road (PEWLR) — a single, environmentally critical project.

The PEWLR is a proposed national road that cuts laterally across the island, linking the provinces of Antique and Iloilo. The route traverses the CPMR, a large and ecologically vital mountain range known for its biodiversity and watershed significance.

Construction began in phases in 2017, with a total budget allocation of around PHP 2.6 billion. It splits into two main sections: the 28-kilometer Valderrama section in Antique and the 13-kilometer Lambunao section in Iloilo.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) touted the project as a lifeline for interior upland communities — shorter travel time, improved market access, and a new route between Iloilo and Antique.

But behind the economic promise was a pattern that environmental advocates say mirrors a long-standing tactic in infrastructure development: project splitting.

Data collated by Daily Guardian from the DPWH website show at least 14 individual projects implemented under PEWLR since 2017, costing a combined PHP1.998 billion.

International Builders Corporation (IBC) bagged ten contracts. Allencon Development Corp. secured three more through joint ventures with A.M. Oreta & Company Inc. and IBC. One project went to F. Gurrea Construction, Inc.

PROJECTS WERE SPLIT

Each segment appeared modest on paper: a few kilometers of road improvement here, slope protection there. But when stitched together, the sections formed a continuous line across the CPMR, a scale that should have triggered a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and strict national-level approval.

Instead, the segmented road sections were issued Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECCs) and Certificates of Non-Coverage (CNCs), documents that are meant for small-scale projects that typically do not require rigorous environmental scrutiny.

Environmental groups have long flagged the PEWLR for systemic violations. Amlig Antique Alliance argued that dividing the PEWLR into smaller contracts“evaded cumulative impact assessment and public scrutiny.”

“Project splitting has also been used to bypass requirements for Local Government Unit endorsement and community consultation, marginalizing fishing, farming, and indigenous communities and violating the principles of social acceptability and local autonomy under the Local Government Code,” the group said.

Laws such as Presidential Decree (PD) 1586, which establishes the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) System, require that projects be assessed comprehensively and not segmented to avoid environmental scrutiny.

This ensures a full environmental review for the entire scope of a project rather than a piecemeal evaluation of smaller parts that could bypass stringent requirements.

The DENR guidelines, including DAO 2003-30, reinforce these prohibitions by mandating that any major modification or extension of a project must undergo appropriate environmental review and approval.

This prevents the circumvention of environmental safeguards by fragmenting a project into smaller parts, a practice known as project splitting.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE REVOKED 

On October 17, the Environmental Management Bureau Western Visayas (EMB-6) revoked the ECC and CNC issued for five road projects of the PEWLR, following findings that the segments were part of a single continuous project.

During a technical conference on October 15, the EMB-6 said the DPWH-6 confirmed that several road segments previously issued ECCs and CNCs are actually connected and form a single continuous project.

Four of the revoked permits covered Iloilo’s Lambunao section, which spans Hipgos, Caguisanan, Agsirab, Magbato, Sibacungan, Poblacion Ilaya, Cayan Oeste, Caninguan, Cabugao, Misi, Tampucao, and Bontoc, totaling 13.3 kilometers.

One permit covered Valderrama, Antique, including Ubos, Tacas, and Pandan, covering 5.8 kilometers.

The EMB-6 said treating the road segments as separate projects caused a regulatory breach because it bypassed necessary environmental scrutiny for the project’s full scale.

This segmentation led to misdeclaration of the overall project length in the Environmental Impact Assessment documents submitted to the EMB.

Under environmental regulations, such as Chapter 32e of MC 2007-02 and EMB MC 2014-05, roads classified as national roads longer than 20 kilometers, or longer than 10 kilometers if located in areas with critical slopes, must be treated as Environmentally Critical Projects (ECPs).

They require a single consolidated ECC to ensure thorough environmental assessment and mitigation measures are in place, considering the full scope of the project.

Satellite imagery reinforces what the documents obscured.

Using Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery, Daily Guardian visually mapped the environmental impact of two revoked segments: one in Lambunao and one in Pandan, Valderrama.

In Lambunao, Iloilo, ongoing roadwork is visible high in the mountains, particularly in what the locals call as the “seven hills.”

Satellite images show apparent landslides along the cleared slopes. The approximate affected surface area is 0.06 km², or six hectares — roughly the size of eight to nine football fields.

In Pandan, Valderrama, Antique, road construction is evident on steep slopes.

The project cleared a wide part of a forest land, affecting an estimated 0.25 km², equivalent to 25 hectares or about 35 football fields.

Following these findings, EMB-6 has directed DPWH-6 to secure a new Environmental Compliance Certificate for the entire PEWLR, in accordance with the procedures for ECPs.

‘CRITICAL FIRST WIN’

Amlig hailed the revocation as a pivotal first step toward protecting the island’s ecosystems.

“While this is a pivotal first step, it marks the beginning of the fight for full ecological restoration and regulatory accountability,” it added.

The group stressed that the violations in the projects’ implementation warrant formal legal review.

It urged the Ombudsman, the Independent Commission on Infrastructure, and the Department of Justice to assess potential administrative and criminal liability for the project.