Local fishing communities across the country’s western seaboard—from the far north in Cagayan to the Ilocos provinces to Zambales and the Mindoro provinces have been rising up in protest against the dredging of their rivers and coastlines. A PCIJ investigation found that in all these provinces, sand mining operations by Chinese firms have given way to river dredging projects run by Philippine companies, some of them formed by Chinese nationals who have recently acquired Philippine citizenship.
In the early 2000s, local communities protested sand extraction by mining companies that were mostly Chinese owned. Fishers in the affected communities said these projects drove fish away from traditional fishing grounds and eroded shorelines.
Responding to mounting complaints over black sand mining, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau cancelled several permits during the early 2010s. But the extraction of river and coastal materials—and the ensuing environmental damage— did not end.
In 2017, former President Rodrigo Duterte held a series of meetings with Chinese businessmen and executives from major Chinese infrastructure firms, including representatives of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), one of China’s largest state-owned construction conglomerates.
That same year, Duterte ordered the dredging of major river systems across the country as part of the government’s flood mitigation program. River restoration projects were promoted as a way to improve water flow and reduce flooding, with private contractors allowed to undertake dredging operations in exchange for the right to commercially dispose of materials extracted from riverbeds.
The push for dredging unfolded alongside another flagship initiative: the rehabilitation of Manila Bay. When the cleanup of the bay was launched in 2019, Duterte assured the public that it would not lead to reclamation. Environmental groups and lawmakers remained skeptical, warning that the rehabilitation could eventually pave the way for large-scale land development in the bay. Later that year, Duterte signed Executive Order No. 74, placing the Philippine Reclamation Authority under the Office of the President and streamlining the approval of reclamation projects. By the end of his term, 13 reclamation projects in Manila Bay had been approved.
Today, the two programs have converged. Sand extracted from river restoration projects is being supplied to the two ongoing reclamation projects in Manila Bay, while vessels operated by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), a subsidiary of CCCC, is transporting much of the dredged sand to reclamation sites.
Companies and individuals involved in river restoration projects also appear in Manila Bay reclamation developments, creating a network that spans extraction sites, transport operations, and reclamation projects.
In Oriental Mindoro, the Bucayao River Dredging Project was originally awarded to GC8 Kinming but is now being pursued by GC8 Dredging and Reclamation Corp.
GC8 Kinming’s president, Kitson Kho, is a Chinese national granted Philippine citizenship through legislative naturalization in 2018 and a reported financial backer of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
SEC records further show that 51 percent of GC8 Kinming is owned by GC8 Dredging and Reclamation Corp., while 12.25 percent is held by CCCC Shanghai Dredging Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned CCCC.
Kho also owns UAA Kinming, the company behind the 407-hectare New Manila Bay – City of Pearl project, one of the reclamation developments approved in Manila Bay, and a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In northern Luzon, Riverfront Construction Inc., the company implementing the Cagayan River Restoration Project, is headed by Feng Li, a Chinese national who acquired Philippine citizenship through legislative naturalization in 2022.
In Ilocos Sur, a Philippine-owned company, Isla Verde Mining and Development Corporation, is dredging the Abra river. Fisherfolk backed by the Catholic church and militant organizations like Pamalakaya say the project is destroying fishing grounds and worsening flooding. They point to former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson as the prime mover behind the project (he is not listed as Isla Verde’s owner).
Isla Verde has already extracted millions of cubic meters of sand from the river and the coastline. That sand, records show, is being transported by Chinese vessels, raising national security concerns because those vessels sail in the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea.
(In 2024, Philippine Coast Guard personnel boarded the Chinese-operated dredger vessel Harvest 89 off the coast of Bataan and found 13 undocumented Chinese nationals on board as well as military uniforms associated with the People’s Liberation Army.)
Like other river dredging projects elsewhere in the country, the Abra River Restoration Project, funded by a $303-million loan approved by the Asian Development Bank in 2023, was intended to deepen portions of the river system, improve water flow, and reduce flooding in surrounding communities.
Project proponents said a deeper river channel would allow floodwaters to drain more quickly into the sea during heavy rains and typhoons. Fisherfolk disagree, alleging that dredging has destroyed the natural barriers that prevent flooding. They also point to Isla Verde’s many violations of its permit to operate.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau Region 1 found that Isla Verde’s dredging vessels operated outside their authorized dredging areas and transported large quantities of sand without the required Ore Transport Permit (OTP).
The OTP serves as the government’s primary tracking mechanism for dredged material. It records where the sand originated, where it is being transported, the buyer, the volume being moved, and its declared value. Without it, regulators lose visibility over the movement of material once it leaves the dredging site.
Records obtained by PCIJ show that MGB Region 1 issued Isla Verde some 1,500 OTPs covering nearly 19 million cubic meters of sand in 2024 and 2025. One cubic meter of sand weighs roughly 1,500 kg. During the same period, authorities documented 325 Isla Verde shipments transported without permits.
Yet despite these violations, Isla Verde continues to operate, in part because local governments receive fees and taxes generated by the dredging operations. The project is also supported by the Singson family, who have long dominated politics in Ilocos Sur.
Defending the dredging activities in Caoayan town in 2025, Chavit Singson said, “If we do not dredge it, we might be blamed someday by the residents there if they are swept by flash floods.”
Governor Jerry Singson described the project as beneficial to communities affected by seasonal flooding.
Isla Verde’s permits indicate that the sand it has extracted was sent to Manila Bay, where only two major reclamation projects are currently under construction.
One is the 360-hectare Pasay Reclamation and Development Project, a joint venture between the Pasay City Government and SM Prime Holdings Inc.
The other is the 265-hectare Pasay Harbor City Reclamation Project, undertaken by the Pasay City Government and Pasay Harbor City Corporation. Corporate records show that Pasay Harbor City Corporation is 10 percent owned by state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company, and 85 percent owned by Davao-based Ulticon Builders Inc., one of the country’s largest government contractors and the second-largest recipient of infrastructure contracts during the Duterte administration.
Who benefits from Dredging?
Residents of Brgy. Puro in Caoayan, where dredging is taking place, said flooding was never the river restoration project’s primary concern. Paeng Quillopo, a fisherman, said floods have rarely reached the barangay even during major storms.
“Kahit umaapaw na dun sa Vigan, hindi pa umaabot dito,” he said. “Maraming bagyo na ang dumaan.”
What residents feared more were the waves. According to Quillopo, dredging removed shallow sand formations near the river mouth that once helped weaken incoming waves before they reached coastal communities.
A narrow sandbar known locally as Snake Island once served as a natural buffer against strong waves and currents entering coastal communities near the river mouth.That area is now part of the dredging zone used by vessels operating offshore west of the inlet.
Quillopo explained that Snake Island had long been a shifting landform that would shrink during storms and reappear during calmer months as sand naturally accumulated near the coast.
“Ngayon wala na, hindi na babalik yan kasi natangay na ng barko yung buhangin,” Quillopo said. He also noted that the area had become noticeably deeper and could no longer be used for traditional fishing activities such as laying nets.
Without the natural barrier, residents said houses near the shoreline became more exposed to strong waves during storms and rough sea conditions.
In response, Isla Verde constructed sections of a seawall along parts of the coast. During a visit to Brgy. Puro, PCIJ observed damaged portions of the seawall, including sections where concrete structures had already been battered by waves. PCIJ also documented houses along the shoreline with visible damage that residents attributed to increasingly strong waves reaching the community.
In a 2015 study commissioned by the provincial government, marine geologist Dr. Fernando Siringan cautioned that dredging and magnetite extraction along vulnerable coastal areas could further destabilize shorelines already experiencing long-term erosion.
Fishers are now feeling the impact of such erosion. Quillopo said fish have become harder to catch near the river inlet, forcing them to travel farther into the open sea. The longer trips have increased fuel costs for small-scale fishers already struggling with lower catches.
Before dredging operations began, they could fish close to shore, where a liter of fuel was often enough for a trip. Now, he spends as much as P2,000 on fuel when they venture farther offshore in search of fish, cutting deeply into his earnings.
Support from local governments
Local governments, however, support the dredging operations, in part because they generate revenues.
DENR Administrative Order No. 2020-07 says that commercially disposed materials are subject to an extraction fee collected by the provincial government. Project proponents are also required to pay monitoring and supervision fees equivalent to at least five percent of the market value of the gross output extracted from the river dredging zone, exclusive of other taxes. The fees are intended to support the provincial government’s monitoring of dredging activities and enforcement of regulatory requirements.
Local governments likewise receive a share of excise taxes generated from the sand extraction.
Barangay Puro Captain Roberto Cabanig disputed residents’ claims that dredging operations were responsible for declining fish catch. Drawing on more than six decades of living in the area, he said fluctuations in catch have long been part of life in the fishing community.
“Alam ko ang sitwasyon dito mula pagkabata ko,” Cabanig told PCIJ. “Pag pangingisda ang tatanungin, minsan meron, minsan wala.”
He said fishers in the barangay continue to catch commercially valuable species, including bulidaw, which can fetch more than P1,000 per kilogram. For Cabanig, periods of low catch are not unusual and should not automatically be attributed to dredging activities.
Cabanig said Isla Verde has helped residents by constructing a protective seawall and providing financial aid to residents. The 400 households in the barangay, residents told PCIJ, received around P10,000 each during two separate aid distributions by the company. According to Cabanig, Isla Verde paid the barangay extraction fees of nearly P13 million between August 2024 and March 2026; the funds were used for infrastructure and community projects.
The Corporate Network Behind Isla Verde
For residents of Santa and Caoayan towns, the Abra River Restoration Project is visible through dredging vessels, disappearing fishing grounds, and millions of pesos flowing into local government coffers.
But who controls the company behind the project is far less visible.
Corporate records show that Isla Verde is not a standalone local company. Instead, it sits within a web of interconnected corporations whose officers, stockholders, and ownership structures overlap with companies involved in resource extraction and dredging projects elsewhere in the country.
Isla Verde shareholder, BBG Greenworld Resources Inc., shares the same incorporators as Isla Verde and was among at least ten companies granted permits to extract black sand and magnetite in Cagayan province, alongside several Chinese-owned firms. While the permits of some of the Chinese firms were canceled in 2013, BBG’s was not and it continued to operate in Abulug as a sand mining company. Today, it is the proponent of the proposed Abulug River Desilting and Flood Control Project in Cagayan.
Rolando Fantone, the acting president of BBG Greenworld, is also president and director of Isla Verde. Corporate records further show that BBG counted several Hong Kong nationals among its stockholders.
Over the years, control of Isla Verde shifted among a group of closely linked companies.
Corporate filings show that Keen Peak Corporation previously held a 75 percent controlling stake in Isla Verde. That stake is now held by Yongzhen Shipping Co., Ltd., which owns 75 percent of the dredging company.
SEC records show significant overlap among the three firms. Many of the same directors and corporate officers appear in the filings of Isla Verde, Keen Peak, and Yongzhen Shipping, often moving between positions while the names themselves remain largely unchanged. Although all three companies are registered as Philippine corporations, corporate records show that some of their directors and stockholders are Taiwanese nationals.
The connection extends beyond corporate filings. Keen Peak is listed as the project proponent of the Mag-Asawang Tubig River Dredging Project in Oriental Mindoro and was also operating MV Hong Hai 16 when the vessel capsized off Occidental Mindoro in April 2024. Authorities later discovered undocumented Chinese nationals on board.
Records reviewed by PCIJ also show that Yongzhen Shipping and Keen Peak Corporation share the same Tax Identification Number (TIN). Under Philippine law, a TIN is assigned to a single taxpayer, raising questions about the relationship between the two companies.
Corporate records identify Pedro C. Lim as Keen Peak’s president and director, and listed an address in Barangay Barraca, Vigan City. During PCIJ’s reporting in Ilocos Sur, PCIJ attempted to locate Lim at the address listed in the company’s filings to seek comment on Keen Peak’s involvement in dredging projects.
The effort was unsuccessful. When PCIJ visited Barangay Barraca, local officials said they knew of a Pedro associated with dredging activities in the area. However, they said the individual they knew did not carry the surname Lim and did not reside in the barangay. Officials also said that while a Lim family lives in Barangay Barraca, they are unrelated to the person involved in the dredging business.
Where does the sand go?
Across the country’s western seaboard, river restoration and dredging projects have proliferated in recent years, generating millions of cubic meters of extracted material. Moving much of that material is China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), a subsidiary of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company.
PCIJ’s review of vessel records found that of the 98 vessels used to transport dredged sand nationwide, 60 are operated by CHEC. In Ilocos Sur alone, Philippine Coast Guard Notices to Mariners show that CHEC deployed at least 33 vessels to service the Abra River Restoration Project between 2024 and 2026.
In 2023, researchers from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture were concerned about the lack of sand to support construction projects in China. They examined sand from the Santo Tomas River in Zambales as a potential substitute for natural river sand used in Beijing’s construction industry. Their findings showed that Philippine volcanic river sand, once processed, performed comparably to Beijing river sand in strength, durability, and workability.
“Importing river sand from neighboring countries is undoubtedly the best choice,” the study concluded.
The demand for sand has grown alongside the world’s construction boom. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, sand is now the second most exploited natural resource after water, with global demand tripling over the past two decades to reach an estimated 50 billion tons annually. The material is a key component in concrete, glass, land reclamation, and other infrastructure projects, fueling a global extraction industry that increasingly draws sand from rivers, coastlines, and the seabed. UNEP has warned that extraction in many parts of the world is occurring faster than natural processes can replace it, raising concerns about its environmental and social costs.
Trade records suggest the Philippines has long supplied that demand.
Data from the Department of Trade and Industry’s Tradelines Philippines show that Taiwan and Japan dominated the trade during the earlier years of the dataset, but export volumes began climbing sharply after 2018. In 2019, outbound shipments reached their highest level of the decade, with 874 million kilograms of natural sand leaving the country.
The trade briefly disappeared during the pandemic years. No sand exports were recorded in 2020 and 2021.
When shipments resumed in 2022, Taiwan remained the largest and most consistent buyer, but China accounted for an increasingly significant share of the trade. Together, the two destinations accounted for 455 million kilograms of the 487.5 million kilograms exported in 2024.
Port records provide another clue.
Throughout the decade-long dataset, Currimao in Ilocos Norte repeatedly appears as the principal exit point for sand exports originating from Region 1. The port sits less than 100 kilometers from the Abra River inlet, where dredging vessels have been operating since 2024.
In May 2025, Malacañang confirmed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had ordered an investigation into reports that sand dredged from various parts of the Philippines may be ending up in reclamation activities linked to China in the West Philippine Sea. “This is now the subject of an ongoing investigation,” Palace spokesperson Claire Castro said. “We cannot divulge specific details at this point because the issues are quite sensitive.”–PCIJ.org
This investigation was produced with support from The Environmental Reporting Collective.