Crowdsourcing to clean up Manila Bay

The crowds marching to clean Manila Bay reminded me of the crowds who went to Luneta to show who they wanted to lead political change. The million crowd showed up on the miting de abanse of Davao Mayor

Rodrigo Duterte to support him to clean up the country. The crowds are back this time to support him to clean up Manila Bay. It was an awesome sight never seen before in former administrations. Like many others it was regarded as an impossible task and not worthwhile doing.

If we did not have a leader who cared to do such things, why should we care? That is what makes PRRD a different president. He was a shocking change and ready to be different.

In general, those who drive through Roxas Boulevard look askance at the Manila Bay and thought it was doomed with its filth and waste. It is an example of how government under previous leaders did nothing about it.

As a child I knew it as a place to cure a cough or cold because of its fresh air. My parents would dump all of us in the car and cruise along the bay, stopping occasionally to look at its clean and placid waters. It also meant breakfast in Aristocrat (one of the restaurants being accused now as polluters by throwing their wastewater to the bay). We called a drive through the boulevard as pasyal, a place to breathe and meander. But after many years the clean bay and its fresh air were gone. It smelled of a sewer tank with bits of trash floating on the placid water. It became a place to avoid, to pass by quickly and look away from.

Until Duterte became president we did not care how it smelled and looked like. Through several administrations, Philippine presidents did not care, so why should we? It was too big a job for individuals wanting fresh air and clean water. Foreign friends who were long time Manila presidents used to rhapsodize about the Sunset of Manila Bay as incomparably beautiful and driving through the boulevard was a pleasant experience. The beautiful sunset followed as you drive along the stretch of a winding boulevard without the reclamation then.

“I’ve been to UK, US, Egypt, Dubai, Japan, Australia and nearby Asian countries but I have never seen a sunset as beautiful as Manila Bay’s Sunset. Truly, it is one of the Best Sunset in the Whole Wide World!” (from a Manila tour operator).

The crowd of volunteers to clean up the bay was heartening. It was not just about cleaning the bay but the togetherness that counted.

“We all have to pitch in if we want a beautiful country we can be proud of.” It is not mine or yours but our Manila Bay.

We are not alone in wanting to clean bodies of water around the world. Other countries are waking up to realize that bodies of water are what give life to communities as Victor Mallet wrote of the Ganges in India – “River of Life, River of Death”.

The Philippines had earlier won the competition among countries cleaning up their rivers. Philippines won over China’s cleaning of the Yangtze.

Volunteerism was the key to that success. A few thousands volunteered from different barangays traversed by Pasig. But the number of volunteers to clean the Manila Bay was overwhelming. Crowds came to clean peacefully and orderly to follow the leader. Here he comes. We are with you Mr. President in small and big tasks to re-build our country after years of neglect.

I was in Singapore, one of the cleanest cities in the world, which respects bodies of water that give life to their communities. I wondered then whether we would attain that goal with a divided population, with the egging of Liberal opposition and other groups to oppose anything from  Duterte’s government. To them he could do nothing right, even the cleaning of rivers and calling on crowds to volunteer because the Manila Bay belongs to all of us. With that kind of flimsy attitude of opposing for the sake of opposing we will not succeed in cleaning our rivers or indeed rebuilding a nation after years of corruption and neglect.

The competition for cleaning rivers was held in Sydney sometime ago. The Philippines won over China, a big country capable of great tasks. The judges of the contest said it was not the bigness or superpower of China that mattered but the enthusiastic organization of volunteers.

We won the 1st Asia RiverPrize award for cleaning the Pasig River because so many volunteers pitched in. We did the same thing in Boracay despite objections from big businesses like hotels and restaurants and now – the Manila Bay.

We did it once and we will do it again and again. Those who prize the bay as a window to our country should keep watch that it does not happen again.

Cleaning the Pasig River brought us an ongoing affair. It brought in around 18,000 people to decent housing and transforming these communities and their lives into environmentally responsible citizens.

Pasig River, being the winner of the 2018 Asia RiverPrize, received widespread global recognition, which can build new partnerships, provide opportunities for exchange of knowledge and best practices, and open doors for international support. “One of the five critical criteria in the determination of the winner was leadership, which the judges attributed to the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte. It was PRRD’s leadership that united both the public and private sectors.

Manila Bay is historically significant. We must remember that it was on this bay that American colonization of the Philippines was achieved. Dewey’s decisive victory cleared the way for the US occupation of Manila and the eventual transfer of the Philippines from Spanish to American control.

Philippine insurgents who fought against Spanish rule during the war immediately turned their guns against the new occupiers. We honor these insurgents when we show respect for Manila Bay.