San Miguel clarifies no formal deal yet with Palafox firm on PAREX

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Friday clarified that it has not yet signed any agreement with Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture Group Inc. for the Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) project.

SMC made the clarification after the Palafox group said that it has not signed any contract to be the consultant for the PAREX project.

“While it is true that the SMC and Mr. Ramon Ang have reached out to our principal architect and urban planner Felino ‘Jun’ Palafox Jr. to introduce green architecture and green urbanism principles in SMC infrastructure projects, this has never been formalized specifically for the PAREX project,” the Palafox group said in a statement.

SMC said that it had initial discussions with Palafox group for a potential consulting agreement for the PAREX project.

“Architect Palafox is one of the master planners of one of our major projects and in our regular meetings with him, he has expressed strong belief in the need to increase accessibility between the eastern and western corridors of Metro Manila as part of a broader strategy towards decongesting Metro Manila, and easing the many negative impacts of traffic,” SMC said.

“There is no formal engagement with Arch. Palafox, but we have been in discussion, something that we have been very clear from the start – that we want him to help us do PAREX right,” it added.

SMC said it has learned from architect Jun Palafox that “forces critical of the project have been exerting pressure on him, his associates, and his family to drop the project.”

“We believe this is part of an orchestrated and continuing demolition job to paint the project as the opposite of what it truly is,” the company said.

Palafox group, meanwhile, said it remains firm to its stand that public and private sectors must work together in addressing the climate crisis through multi-sectoral sustainable development.

“This means all economic, social, health, and environmental aspects must be carefully assessed before proceeding with any project,” the urban planning and architecture firm said.

On Friday, SMC broke ground for the 19.37-kilometer PAREX, days after it secured government approval for the project. 

The PAREX secured the government’s approval after Ang, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) executive director Alvin Carullo signed the Supplemental Toll Operations Agreement (STOA).

The P95-billion project, which will be fully-financed by SMC, is seen to be a six-lane elevated expressway that will run along the banks of the river, from Radial Road 10 in Manila to C-6 Road or the South East Metro Manila Expressway (SEMME) in Taguig City.

Once operational, PAREX will link the eastern and western cities of Metro Manila and will connect to the Skyway system.

Ang also addressed criticism against the project amid concerns on its impact to traffic and environment as well as being an eyesore to heritage structures along the Pasig River banks. 

Ang belied claims that the PAREX will destroy Pasig River since the river has long been considered biologically dead and has been reduced to a flowing dumpsite for solid waste, industrial and chemical wastes, and sewage.

“In terms of solid wastes, bathymetric studies we have conducted place the depth of the river at just one an-a-half meters at the mouth of the Marikina River and Manggahan River,” he said.

“Meanwhile the Pandacan and Manila Bay areas are down to two meters,” he added.

The SMC chief said the company is undertaking the largest river clean-up and rehabilitation effort for the Pasig River.

“We will spend P2 billion initially to extract at least three million metric tons of solid waste from the river to allow it to channel floodwaters more effectively. This will also allow for safer operations of water ferries,” Ang said.

Ang also disproved claims that the PAREX will cover the entire Pasig River.

“PAREX will be built only on the banks of Pasig River, its posts occupying only one meter of the average 200 meters width of the Pasig River... All valid concerns will also be addressed during the Detailed Engineering Design development phase for the project,” he said.

On criticisms that the PAREX is “anti-poor” and will only benefit the privileged who use cars, Ang said that the project will be a hybrid expressway, accommodating multiple modes of transportation.

“Apart from accommodating motor vehicles, it will also feature a modern and efficient public transport system in the form of a Bus Rapid Transit that will run on both the Skyway and PAREX. This will enable faster, more reliable, safer, comfortable and affordable commutes to and from the northern, southern, eastern, and western areas of Metro Manila,” Ang said.

He said that it is not true that PAREX will worsen pollution as it will compel people to buy more cars.—LDF, GMA News