The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will conduct a "cumulative impact assessment" of all the reclamation projects in Manila Bay after the United States expressed concern over the project's potential "irreversible impacts to the environment".

"We will be conducting a cumulative impact assessment of the reclamation projects as approved so that we can demonstrate or illustrate and share what the cumulative impact of all of these projects would be on Manila Bay," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said on Wednesday.

"You know that Manila Bay actually encompasses three regions. It’s quite wide and therefore the areas of NCR, 4A (Calabarzon) all the way up to Bataan and Bulacan would be part of the consideration," she added.

Loyzaga confirmed "there are concerns not just expressed by the US Embassy but by others as well."

"Not just for the ecology of the possible impacts to the ecology but also for the cultural and historical impacts of the changes that could take place given the history of Manila Bay," she said.

The US Embassy in Manila expressed concerns about "the potential negative long-term and irreversible impacts to the environment" of the project.

Loyzaga added that the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan of the previous administration will be used as reference for the assessment.

"It hasn’t been finalized, we are going to be using that as a reference to baseline conditions for the community impact assessment," she said. Robina Asido/DMS