Government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has expressed its readiness to provide the necessary funding needed by establishments located near Manila Bay to make their businesses more environment-friendly and avoid the risk closure.
Just last week, the government threatened to close firms that are discharging untreated wastewater into the bay after an interagency task force launched the operation to save Manila Bay.
The move came after President Duterte designated Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu to lead the rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
“DBP is ready to provide the necessary financial and technical assistance to all establishments near or along the coast of Manila Bay to ensure compliance to environmental laws and regulations,” DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Cecilia Borromeo said in a statement released on Monday.
Borromeo said the bank’s loan programs on environment protection and its experience in bankrolling water treatment and sanitation projects would be beneficial to companies seeking to comply with existing environment rules and regulations.
She said the DBP will further coordinate with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the local government units, other government entities and the private sector in finding a sustainable solution to improve Manila Bay’s water quality.
“DBP is prepared to do its share in this inter-sectoral initiative to clean up, rehabilitate, and improve the water quality of Manila Bay and its tributaries,” Borromeo said.
Aside from the DENR, the other agencies tasked to help save Manila Bay are the Departments of Agriculture, Public Works and Highways, Interior and Local Government, Education, Health, and Budget and Management, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Local Water Utilities Administration, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police-Maritime Group and Philippine Ports Authority. These agencies are collectively referred to as “mandamus agencies.”
To recall, on December 18, 2008, the Supreme Court ordered 13 government agencies to “clean up, rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay, and restore and maintain its waters to SB level to make them fit for swimming, skin diving and other forms of contact recreation.”