The Social, Environmental and Economic Effects of a Reclamation Project From the Lived Experience of the Residents of an Affected Local Coastal Village in the Philippines

One of the offshoots of urbanization is the construction of reclamation sites. In the province of Leyte, the conversion of the municipality of Baybay into a city paves the way for this development project. With this, people living in the city población’s coastal barangays were affected by the new development. Using the qualitative research method of hermeneutic phenomenology, this study aims to investigate the reclamation project’s effects on the lives of the affected residents specifically on the social, environmental and economic aspects. This study then concludes that negative effects have been felt on the social aspect of the residents’ lives as discernible in the violation of their basic human rights to information. This has caused fears and apprehensions among the affected in relation to their housing needs, availability of work and the continuance of their social inter-connectedness. Furthermore, this study concludes that the reclamation project has brought environmental degradation caused by the project’s construction and has prevented the residents to enjoy the aesthetic benefits and other ecosystem services that they used to have before the start of the project. Lastly, this study concludes that the reclamation project has negatively affected the economic aspect of the residents’ lives. With the degradation and change of landscape in the residents’ community, the residents’ have been limited and prevented in their fishing activities which have been their main source of income. This also includes the fishermen’s dwindling catch and the obliteration of the residents’ activity of gathering shells and crabs during low tides.

Keywords – Urbanization, Reclamation, Fisherfolk-residents, Negative Effects.