DENR: Private sector to help fund Manila Bay cleanup

MANILA, Philippines — Certain industries have offered to help the government fund the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said.

Without naming the companies, Cimatu said their heads have also offered to come up with suggestions on how to go about the bay’s cleanup.

“We will meet with them on Jan. 15. We will present to them the existing problems in Manila Bay as well as the possible solutions,” the environment chief said at a recent press briefing.

The official earlier described the rehabilitation of Manila Bay as a difficult challenge, but worth taking nonetheless.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has directed an attached agency, the National Mapping Resource and Information Authority, to prepare maps that would help identify esteros or canals that directly release wastewater into Manila Bay.

A 2017 report by the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau showed that the fecal coliform level in Manila Bay reached as high as over 330 million most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliters. The safe level is only 100 MPN/100 ml.

“We’ll be launching this plan into reality within the month of January so that we expect that by Christmas next year, we’ll have a better Manila Bay,” he said.

In 2008, the Supreme Court issued a continuing writ of mandamus ordering 13 government agencies to clean up Manila Bay and restore its water quality to Class SB, or safe for recreational activities such as swimming.

Cimatu said the cleanup will cover four areas – Metro Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Bulacan and Bataan.

Cleanup expansion

While Cimatu’s Manila Bay cleanup plan is “laudable,” it should be expanded to include Pasig River and the Laguna de Bay, said former senator Eddie Ilarde in a letter to the environment secretary.

“We admire Sec. Roy Cimatu for focusing attention on the alarming problem of dirt and scum in the bay, which is interconnected with Pasig River and Laguna de Bae,” Ilarde said.

“A simultaneous cleanup and dredging of these three bodies of water shall alleviate the situation, which if not addressed soon, can cause even more serious consequences,” he said. In a statement, Ilarde described himself as the first environmentalist in Congress to expose the then growing scourge of water and air pollution in the country during the sixth Congress 52 years ago.

“An honest-to-goodness, no-nonsense government-private sector undertaking in this regard as enunciated by the secretary – unlike the unconcern of previous administrations – needs immediate implementation,” he said.

“It is gratifying that President Duterte is the first president to condemn the mindless destruction of the environment in this country, such as open-pit mining, the degradation of our waterways and other forms of environmental destruction,” Ilarde said.

In support of Ilarde’s proposal, internationally recognized urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. recently noted that “clearing these waterways, first collecting millions of tons of garbage and muck can bring back their natural depth and the unhampered flow of water, in effect shall make their rehabilitation and development easier.”

Ilarde said Maharlika Movement officers and members passed a resolution expressing support for an expansion of Cimatu’s Manila Bay cleanup to include Pasig River and Laguna de Bay. The success of such endeavor, according to the resolution, “can help the economy and put to maximum use these natural resources which are gifts of God for our people.”