To sustain the momentum of cleaning up the Manila Bay, the Department of the Interior and Local Government has ordered local chief executives of 178 cities and municipalities inside the Manila Bay Watershed Area to see to it that all business establishments in their respective areas would comply with the provisions of environmental laws, including the National Building Code, the Fire Code, the Code on Sanitation, and other related laws, regulations, and policies. Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año issued a memorandum directing all mayors in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon to revoke the business permits of establishments violating environmental laws.
The DILG chief said that a business or mayor’s permit is not a right but a privilege granted by the state, and LGUs play a big role to ensure the success of the Duterte administration’s ongoing efforts to clean and rehabilitate Manila Bay. “Let us sustain the momentum of cleaning up Manila Bay. The DILG is committed to doing our role in the interagency Manila Bay Task Force, which include supervision of LGUs whether they are judiciously inspecting all establishments in their respective areas,” he said, as he instructed concerned DILG regional directors to report to him those LGUs and local chief executives who fail to abide by this directive.
Año knows the hugeness of the problem, which is why he also wants to involve all leaders of 5,714 barangays inside the Manila Bay Watershed Area to contribute to the rehabilitation of the polluted bay by organizing weekly cleanup drives in their localities.
Presidential Spokesman S. Salvador Panelo earlier said that President Duterte is prepared to show political will to enforce the cleanup of Manila Bay, to the extent of closing down polluting establishments in the cities and provinces around it. What the government did in Boracay, he said, it will also do in Manila Bay. However, Manila Bay is a bigger cesspool than Boracay—a hundred times bigger. And the fecal coliform bacteria level in the bay has now reached 350 MPN (most probable number), compared to the 100 MPN around Boracay when it was closed down for six months.
It will take a tremendous amount of political will to compel the polluting towns and cities with their factories and their millions of homes spewing untreated sewage into the streams and rivers flowing into the bay. Reports said around 1 million informal settlers have been using Manila Bay for their own hygienic purposes. Business establishments have also been dumping raw sewage into the bay, choosing not to build their own sewage-treatment plants to save on costs.
We are confident that President Duterte will carry out this herculean task of rehabilitating Manila Bay with the same steely political will he displayed in Boracay. But the massive cleanup is a daunting task that could take years to complete. For starters the entire catchment of Manila Bay measures 1.7 million hectares, equivalent to 1,700 Boracays. This means that the number of business establishments causing pollution in the bay is a lot more than in Boracay.
To put that in perspective, more than 40 tons of garbage were removed from Manila Bay on January 27, the start of a campaign to clean up one polluted stretch of its coastline. The 11 truckloads of garbage were collected by 5,000 volunteers, including government employees. It will take more volunteers and workers, and more taxpayers’ money to complete the job of cleaning up the bay, which is famous for its sunset views. But with the firm resolve of the Duterte administration to bring Manila Bay back to life, we believe the results will be beneficial to the whole country and to all Filipinos.