Manila fake white beach defied laws, science, history, heritage

As expected, backwash is eroding the fake white sand beach along Manila Bay. With it is wasting the P400 million to prettify a half-kilometer of seafront. It did not need earth scientists to foretell that. In these 7,641 islands Filipinos stroll the coast and learn that “what the sea giveth, the sea taketh away.”

And yet bureaucrats vainly are sandbagging the synthetic baywalk against onrushing waves. More money is to be spent to whiten five kilometers.

None have thought to reforest mangroves along Manila Bay’s entire 190-kilometer coastline. Lost on them is why the ancients called it Maynilad. It teemed with “nilad” native mangrove. Aside from barring storm surges and avulsion, mangroves provide food and greenery.

The artificial sand is made of crushed dolomite boulders, a common construction concrete mix. It came from seaside conservation zones in Cebu. Dumping it in Manila bayside further harmed the already overfished, heavily polluted waters. All the more will it degrade marine habitat, vital water-bird sites, sardine spawning grounds and remnant mangroves and wetlands.

Environment lawyers, scientists and fishers groups demand accountability from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “That this is the brainchild of DENR, whose very mandate is to protect the environment and enforce environmental laws, erodes trust in our institutions,” they state in a position paper.

The white-sanding broke five laws:

(1) Environmental Impact Systems Law. No person may undertake projects in environmentally critical areas without an Environment Compliance Certificate. Even buildings beyond four stories require ECCs. More so, dolomite quarrying and seaside dumping. Dolomite sand spills reportedly choked corals while being loaded onto barges in Cebu. It was dumped on bio-diverse Manila Bay.

(2) Fisheries Code. The Code requires a detailed environmental impact study prior to undertaking projects that “will affect the quality of the environment”. It prohibits aquatic pollution – anything introduced to water bodies that can harm living and non-living marine resources, or humans. Violators can be penalized P15,000 a day until the illegality stops, plus P1 million and 12 years imprisonment.

(3) Clean Water Act. The Act prohibits depositing of any material into water bodies or their margins that cause pollution. Those include materials “liable to be washed into such surface water, either by tide action or by storm, floods – which could cause water pollution or impede natural flow in the water body”. Penalties: P200,000 with 10 percent escalation every two years; and closure, suspension or cessation of (company) operations.

(4) National Cultural Heritage Act. The Manila bayside from Del Pan Bridge, Intramuros, Manila, to the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City, is a national historical landmark. The National Historical Commission so declared in 2012. The Act prohibits alteration of its original features unless approved by the Commission. A stone’s throw from Rizal Monument, the fake white beach is within that stretch. Penalties: P200,000, plus ten years imprisonment.

(5) Local Government Code. National agencies like DENR must consult stakeholders of the local government unit on projects. Specified are those “that may cause pollution, climatic change, depletion of nonrenewable resources, loss of cropland, rangeland or forest cover, and extinction of animal or plant species.” The city or municipal council, in this case, Manila’s, must approve the project.

The New Civil Code declares: “Article 5. Acts executed against the provisions of mandatory or prohibitory laws shall be void, except when the law itself authorizes their validity.

“Article 7. Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or non-observance shall not be excused by disuse, or custom or practice to the contrary... Administrative or executive acts, orders and regulations shall be valid only when they are not contrary to the laws or the Constitution.

“Article 25. Thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display during a period of acute public want or emergency may be stopped by order of the courts at the instance of any government or private charitable institutions.”

DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu was asked to investigate the breaches. So were Directors Ricardo Calderon of the Biodiversity Management Bureau and William Cuñado of the Environment Management Bureau. Agriculture Secretary William Dar and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director Eduardo Gongona were asked to stop the dumping. So were NHC Chairman Rene Escalante and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno. The ombudsman was requested to file charges.

Signatories: Atty. Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, Oceana-PH; Rodne Galicha, Living Laudato Si; Atty. Gerthie Mayo-Anda, Environmental Legal Assistance Center; Atty. Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio, Philippine Earth Justice Center; Dr. Jurgenne Primavera, Zoological Society of London-PH; Godofredo Villapando Jr., National Movement for Food Sovereignty; Mayette Rodriguez, NGOs for Fisheries Reform; Dinna Umengan, Tambuyog Development Center; Dr. Francis Magbanua, Philippine Society of Freshwater Science; Pablo Rosales, Pangisda Pilipinas; Leon Dulce, Kalikasan People’s Network; Jaybee Garganera, Alyansa Tigil Mina; Gerry Arances, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development; Aileen Lucero, Eco Waste Coalition; Ramon San Pascual, Health Care Without Harm-Asia; Jerwin Baure, Advocates of Science and Technology for the People; Cynthia Adeline Layusa-Oliveros, Isla Biodiversity Conservation; Rainier Manalo, Biodiversity Conservation Society; Lia Alonzo, Center for Environmental Concerns; Grace Diamante, Mindoro Biodiversity Foundation; Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya; Kisha Erah Muana, STEP Philippines; Harold Banggay, Project MariKnows; Jon Bonifacio, Saribuhay; Xian Guevarra, Youth Advocates for Climate Action; Hannah Bolante, Hirakaya; Chuck Baclagon, 350.orgpilipinas; and Teody Navea, Sanlakas-Cebu.

(Read also Gotcha, 11 Sep. 2020, “Plant Mangroves, Not Cancerous Fake Sand”: https://tinyurl.com/yattypph

*      *      *

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

My book “Exposés: Investigative Reporting for Clean Government” is available on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/Amazon-Exposes

Paperback: https://tinyurl.com/Anvil-Exposes or at National Bookstores.

*      *      *

Gotcha archives: https://tinyurl.com/Gotcha-Archives