Manila: An architect-cum-urban planner creditted for designing landmarks in the Philippines as well as abroad, has filed a case against a political family for pushing through with an ecozone project despite hazard warnings.

Architect Felino Palafox filed a case for graft against Senator Edgardo Angara, as well as the senator's son, Representative Juan Edgardo Angara, his sister, Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and four other individuals. The charges were related to the establishment of the Aurora Pacific Ecozone and Freeport (APECO).

The APECO had been intended as a port gateway and economic zone complete with an airport and seaport in Aurora province in northeastern Philippines by its proponents, mainly the family of Senator Angara.

But Palafox, in his complaint filed before the Office of the anti-graft watchdog Sandiganbayan, said the Angaras had lobbied to push through with the project despite their findings that the 25-hectare ecozone is prone to flooding and is located in an area in the country frequented by disastrous typhoons.

"When the engineering surveys conducted by the complainant turned out that some portions of the land covered by the project were prone to flooding and liquefaction, complainant recommended that the design should consider a 100-year historical pattern of flooding," according to Palafox.

The project had necessitated careful studies since it would involve billions of pesos. But Palafox said Senator Angara had it rushed to "justify the approval of the budget which was then being deliberated before the Senate."

The project, if it pushes through would also provide the Angara family with firm and undisputed foothold in Aurora, a province which they consider as their political stronghold.

Palafox is known for projects that takes into consideration important environmental concerns and had set up Palafox and Associates, an architecural firm that had been engaged in local big-ticket mall projects as well as several business parks and economic zones.

Palafox and Associates had been engaged in projects in the UAE and in Bahrain.

Faulty plan

But Angara, in response to Palafox move to file graft charges against him and several of his family members, said the architectural firm is to blame for he described as "sloppy piece of design work."

"When Palafox Associates was awarded the design contract for the master plan of the Aurora ecozone after a public bidding in November of 2008, we welcomed what we thought then was a piece of good news. How wrong we were. For a fee of P32 million (Dhs 2,706,091), Palafox Associates came out with a master plan that was declared useless by three government agencies: the Philippine Ports Authority, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel," the Senator said.

"It was a sloppy piece of design work that proposed a seaport very near an airport. That shabby piece of architecture would endanger the whole project, according to the agencies that evaluated the technical and environmental soundness of the Palafox master plan," Angara added.

The exchanges between Angara and Palafox had degenerated into a tit-for-tat concerning the multi-million peso project which used money from Filipino tax payers.

Angara and Palafox exchanged accusations over who really benefitted from the project.

Angara called the ecozone project—that was initiated to lift underdeveloped areas on the coastal areas of Central Luzon into the 21st century—a "scam".

Fortunately, the project did not go beyond architectural design plans.