CHIEF Justice Diosdao Peralta on Thursday said he has reconstituted Manila Bay Advisory Committee (MBAC) which the Supreme Court created in 2008 to ensure compliance by involved parties to its decision mandating concerned government agencies to rehabilitate the waters of Manila Bay so that it would be fit for swimming, skin-diving and other forms of recreation.
Peralta, who is the chairperson of the MBAC, said the new members are SC Associate Justice Edgardo L. Delos Santos, Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez, and SC Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda as vice chairperson and working chairperson.
In his message delivered during the during the 2nd Manila Bay Task Force Principal’s Meeting and Conference at the Diamond Hotel in Manila yesterday, Peralta disclosed that he signed last December 19, 2019, SC Memorandum Order No. 91, Series of 2019 to reconstitute the MBAC.
“Yes, it has been more than 10 years since the Court’s ruling in the case of MMDA vs. Concerned Residents of Manila Bay but it still remains relevant as it has been credited with bringing forth a lot of changes and reforms, not just in the way that we hear and decide environmental cases, but perhaps more importantly, in emphasizing its urgency and importance on global and inter-generational impact,” Peralta said.
The Chief Justice said the MBAC’s main function is to maintain the mandate of the continuing mandamus and to enable the Court to verify the reports of the government agencies tasked to clean up the Manila Bay.
It can be recalled that in its 2011 resolution penned by then Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., the Court gave the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other concerned government agencies until June 30 to come up concrete and strategic steps to implement its December 2008 decision to rehabilitate the waters of Manila Bay.
It also gave the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) until December 31, 2015 to demolish illegal structures and dwellings along river banks and waterways connected to Manila Bay.
On the other hand, the SC gave the Department of Public Works and Highways and the local government units (LGUs) in Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Bataan not later than December 31, 2012 to removal illegal settlers near river banks.
“The idea is not just to comply with this tall order, but to ensure that we are on track by way of periodic updates on our progress. Concededly, this could take years, but this duty is ours in the present, and we will not relent,” he stressed.
To assure compliance to its 2008 decision, the SC even issued a continuing mandamus – an order that compels the agencies of the government to perform acts which the laws specifically require them to do or to comply as duties emanating from the nature and mandate of their offices.
Other government agencies enjoined to participate in the Manila Bay cleanup were Manila Development Authority, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Interior and Local Government, affected local government units (LGUs), the Philippine National Police-Maritime Group, and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).
Earlier, President Duterte has approved a seven-year plan to cleanup Manila Bay. The efforts would cost the government about P47 billion.
Image credits: Roy Domingo