The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) has allowed the Dumaguete City government to backfill an unfinished and excavated portion of the reclaimed area at the Pantawan People’s Park in this provincial capital.
Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria told reporters on Tuesday that he recently received a letter from the PRA granting permission to proceed with the refilling of an excavated hole in the Barangay Tinago area.
“The PRA has allowed us to fill up that body of water there because they still consider it as not part of the whole Pantawan, and it is still a body of water,” Sagarbarria said.
The mayor stressed that whatever the city does at the Pantawan People’s Park, “I make it a point to ask permission from the PRA because it is not ours. It belongs to them as there is a cease and desist order,” he said.
The PRA issued the order due to unauthorized reclamation conducted during the previous administration, which lacked necessary permits from the PRA and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The area to be backfilled was originally intended for building an Olympic-sized swimming pool for the ASEAN Schools Games, which were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sagarbarria said the PRA has allowed the city to use of the park “as it is now,” with the condition that no new development is to be undertaken until the city fully complies with requirements and the land is formally titled.
The refilling process has started and is at no expense to the city, as the backfill materials are obtained from local government supplies.