Farmers, communities fear environmental impact as PNR plans South Long Haul

NOTE: This story has been updated on Feb. 13 following a release of statement from the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) and on Jan. 21 with the statement from the PNR Acting General Manager.

LIBMANAN, Camarines Sur—Allan Abanto, 52, traversed a cemetery in Puro-Batia village in this town, making his way to a parcel of land, which will be converted into government property in just a few months.

He had to make careful, deliberate steps, avoiding the puddles that formed after four days of heavy rain in this part of the Bicol Region.

Abanto told Bicoldotph that in his land, the flood reached up to the ankles during storm Kristine’s (internationally, Trami) onslaught in October 2024, but just a few meters away, the flood reached just a little above the waist.

He is just one of the residents who fear that once the Philippine National Railways constructs the new station for its South Long Haul project, the flooding in their area will worsen.

Located just beside a portion of the Bicol Region, Puro-Batia is prone to flooding just like many other villages in this town. In fact, when Kristine hit the Bicol Region, 71 villages in Libmanan—the third largest Camarines Sur town in terms of land area and the largest in terms of population size—were flooded, making it the town with the most incidents of flooding, according to the Office of Civil Defense in Bicol.

“Instead of the water flowing smoothly, it will get blocked here,” he told Bicoldotph. He then pointed towards both sides of the rice field. “It is going to be hard for people in this area or this area, depending on the flow of the water.”

Aside from Abanto, six other farming families will be affected when the new station for the South Long Haul is opened in this village.

Residents and officials here view the new PNR station as a possible boost for their economy, but they said that they also hope that the effects to both livelihood and the environment will not be detrimental.

Village chief Jose Victor Dilanco, 57, told Bicoldotph that no dates on the construction of lines and stations have been announced yet, but officials and residents who will be affected have been attending regular consultation meetings.

PNR’s South Long Haul (SLH) Project will span 561.1 kilometers, connecting cities, municipalities, seaports, and economic zones between Calamba City’s Banlic village and Gadgaron village in Matnog town, the southernmost tip of Sorsogon province.

From March to July 2021, PNR conducted technical studies that were used to come up with an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the submission of which, according to government railway company, is important in their application for environmental compliance certificates from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB).

Engr. Romelyn Sison, project manager of the SLH Project, told Bicoldotph that it is still in the implementation stage.

She said that the implementation stage includes the right-of-way clearing preparation and acquisition.

“The construction loan is still pending with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Finance (DOF) to secure the necessary loan to proceed with the construction of civil works and other components of the project such rolling stocks and the systems,” she said.

Trees that will be cut for the project have also been marked. In Abanto’s piece of land, there are narra trees (Pterocarpus indicus) and coconut trees that need to be cut.

“All permits will have to be secured before the trees are cut,” Dilanco said. “As long as it is a ‘good lumber,’ each cut tree must be replaced with 100 seedlings,” he said, using a term usually used to refer to hard and high-quality wood.

Dilanco said that while it is beneficial for their village because it will generate more income, he hopes that the concerns of those who will be affected will be addressed.

“What we want is for the government not to neglect those who will be affected. It is necessary. I even said, from our side as barangay officials, who would oppose that?” he said.

For their part, PNR’s Sison said that the national railway company follows Environmental Compliance Certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB).

“PNR-SLH as a big-ticket project being implemented by the Philippine government also aligns with the processes established for various projects being implemented,” Sison said.

Trees in disaster management

Permits for cutting coconuts are obtained from the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

Patricio Broma, Jr., 33, an agriculturist and coconut production and regulation officer at PCA Bicol said that each coconut tree is paid P100 to the government agency.

“Coconut products are some of the main exports of the Philippines. When it comes to coconut oil, refined oil, carbonized charcoal, and coco meat, there are huge demands,” Broma said when asked why laws like RA 8048 or the Coconut Preservation Act of 1995 are significant. “There are no wastes from coconuts and there are many by-products.”

The Philippines is the second largest coconut producer next to its neighboring archipelago Indonesia.

Coconut trees are also effective in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis, said Broma, who is also an agricultural engineer.

“Coconuts help in preventing soil erosion because their roots are spread out and their absorption capacity is high. It is also a good wind-breaker,” he said, although he said that more research has to be done to determine how much water coconut trees can evaporate in relation to its age.

Broma said that coconuts also help prevent flooding—or at least delays it—in a way not many people may immediately consider.

“If there are more coconut trees in the area, and the raindrops fall on the leaves, the kinetic energy of the rain gets broken down. A rainfall’s kinetic energy loosens the soil, which will result in flooding. But when an opposite force weakens the rainfall, it will spread, and slow down.”

Dilanco said that the flooding in Libmanan is largely due to the climate crisis.

“I ‘inject’ it to my constituents that we must do something to help mitigate the effects to us,” he said, adding that the water that makes it to Libmanan come from neighboring towns in Camarines Sur and those in Camarines Norte. “Our advantage in Libmanan is that we have vast rice fields. The water goes to the rice fields, so at least the inundation is not too severe.”

In 2024, the Philippines topped the list of countries that are at high risk from the climate crisis for the third time in a row. According to the WorldRiskIndex 2024, heavy rainfall, storms, floods, droughts and crop failures are on the rise and are therefore causing a decline in food security around the world. The same report also indicate that this will only worsen further unless sustainable and anticipatory disaster risk management are put in place.

“Studies confirm current global trends that favor the emergence and intensifications of multiple crises. In addition to climate change, population growth and unsustainable resource management, urban spral and increasing armed conflicts can harm our global ecosystems,” according to the report.

In Puro-Batia, Abanto said that the climate crisis has changed their farming processes and that they are sometimes risking losing capital.

“Instead of being able to sustain three croppings (three harvests) per year, sometimes we are only able to harvest once sometimes,” he told Bicoldotph. “During the summer, it is still okay. But in your second cropping, that is already a gamble.”

Environmental impact statement

Aside from prime agricultural lands, the SLH will also pass by mangrove areas; areas declared by law as national parks, watershed reserves, wildlife preserves and sanctuaries; areas which constitute the habitat for any endangered or threatened species of indigenous Philippine wildlife; areas of unique historic, archaeological, geological, or scientific interests; areas frequently visited and or hard hit by natural calamities; areas with critical slope as identified by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau; and water bodies from Calamba City in Laguna province to Daraga town in Albay.

The 1,203-page environmental impact statement (EIS) published by the Philippine National Railways detailed all the key findings regarding the effects to the areas where the South Long Haul will traverse.

In terms of terrestrial vegetation, some 509 species found in grassland, agricultural areas, timber plantations, riparian vegetation, mangrove communities, and remnants of secondary forest will be affected. (The EIS initially mentions 544 species, but it enumerates 509 species under varied locality or distribution types.)

Native non-endemic plants refer to those also found in other countries. Exotic plants are those introduced to the Philippines (non-native) from other countries.

Meanwhile, among those native species, PNR groups them into endemics and indigenous. Endemics are those found locally or in the Philippines only, while indigenous are defined by PNR as those that can also be found in other countries.

The narra trees within Abanto's land are considered endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List, the world authority on the classification of species' protection statuses. Kape or Coffee arabica trees, which are also found in the areas where the South Long Haul will run, are also endangered under the Red List.

Meanwhile, some of the trees found in the areas but are also classified as endangered in the DAO 2017-11, DENR's list of threatened species, include molave (Vitex parviflora) and Bicol's beloved tree pili (Canarium ovatum).

Terrestrial wildlife were also accounted for in the same EIS. There are 251 wildlife species found in the towns and cities where the train project will pass. Most of these wildlife are bird species.

My Sankey Visualization

(NOTE: View on desktop to see the interactive graph above.)

According to the EIS, while 211 of the species are not threatened based on IUCN's classification, there are 40 species are "under various threat levels."

The PNR line will also be traversing near or within 12 protected areas, with one mangrove swamp forest reserve in Quezon province being directly hit. The line will also be less than a kilometer away from the Quezon Protected Landscape.

It will also pass by or close to nine critical watersheds include the Bublusan Watershed in Albay, where the train track is more or less a kilometer away.

Screen Shot 2025 01 14 at 12.00.40 PM
A map from the Environmental Impact Statement shows the protected areas and mangrove areas to be traversed by the South Long Haul.
Screen Shot 2025 01 14 at 9.40.18 PM
A map from the Environmental Impact Statement shows the critical watersheds and proclaimed watersheds to be traversed by the South Long Haul.

In their EIS, PNR stated that they will obtain Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas (SAPA) at that it will coordinate with the Forest Management Bureau, River Basin Control Office, and different local government units regarding key biodiversity areas and watersheds.

PMCJ

Ian Rivera, national coordinator at the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), said in a statement emailed to Bicoldotph that although the country's transport system could use an improvement, the government must make sure to address the threats these developments pose and the risks in the areas they are supposed to service.

"I strongly implore that these improvements must not be traded off with our environment and the livelihood of the people it is supposed to help," he said in the statement. "I urge all concerned agencies to adhere with existing environmental preservation policies, seriously consider with priority the resulting negative environmental impacts of the PNR-SLH project, and to adjust their plans accordingly and with respect to those it will affect."

Rivera raised concern over the SLH cutting through the Libmanan-Pulantuna Watershed in Camarines Sur, a reservoir that helps prevent flooding in the surrounding areas by absorbing floodwater.

He also mentioned Mt. Pulatuna and Mt. Tancong Vaca, both in the Camarines provinces, and the protected mangrove along the Cabusao Coastal Zone as areas that need to be protected when the SLH project is already underway.

"Improvement of mass transportation and boosting of local economies is a need that evidently must be addressed. Despite this, progress must not come at the expense of our environment. Especially not when the threatened areas are our lines of defense against the onslaught of the climate crisis," Rivera said. "Our railroads should not be paved alongside the path of destruction."

PNR Acting General Manager Deovanni Miranda
PNR Acting General Manager Deovanni Miranda told Bicoldotph that environmental and social compliance with funding agencies are even more stringent than Philippine laws. (Photo by Rey Anthony Ostria, Bicoldotph)

During their 1st PNR Railway Summit in Naga City on Jan. 21, acting general manager Deovanni Miranda said that they will do whatever they can do lessen the environmental impact of the South Long Haul project.

"We will make sure, especially that we are loaning (money), that we will follow our commitment to the environmental compliance," Miranda told Bicoldotph. "Whatever the current environmental safeguards, the standards that we must follow for the project, those guidelines will be followed."

He also said that this will also be the same case as the other commuter railway projects of the PNR.

"The environmental compliance when it comes to the air, when it comes to the soil condition, when it comes to the water condition. All of those will be approved and will undergo studies done by the agency," he said.

In terms of the social compliance, he said that it will also be part of the approval process.

"The social compliance will be approved by the funding agencies, for example Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB)," Miranda said. "They have social safeguards that are actually more stringent than our current laws in the Philippines and we follow those."

As Abanto awaits final announcements from PNR and the national and local governments, he said he is relying on the seminars given to them by the Department of Agriculture to be able to adapt to the climate crisis.

He said that through these seminars, he learns what kinds of crops to plant during which season. He said that adaptability depends on whether the farmer wants to be open to these changes.

"In my case, I follow because that is what they teach us. Some don't, because what they are used to are the old ways," he said.

While he has options to convert their agricultural land into commercial spaces to take advantage of the foot traffic once the train station is up, that is not the case for some of his neighbors.

Abanto said that one of the affected residents said that he was concerned about losing even just a portion of his rice field especially since "he knows no other way of earning money but through farming."


THIS STORY WAS PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF INTERNEWS' EARTH JOURNALISM NETWORK AS PART OF THE MEDIA ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES.

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