AN interagency body led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will kick off exploratory talks this week to come up with a plan on how to rehabilitate Manila Bay.
Environment Undersecretary Benny D. Antiporda, the deputy spokesman of Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said the DENR chief has been tasked by President Duterte to lead the rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
“There will be an interagency meeting composed of representatives from the mandamus agencies. Probably more will eventually be invited to join [the interagency body],” Antiporda said.
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.”
Under DENR Administrative Order 34, Class SB refers to areas regularly used by the public for bathing, swimming and skin diving.
Aside from the DENR, the other concerned agencies 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.”
Antiporda, the DENR’s undersecretary for solid waste management and local government units, was earlier quoted in news reports as saying that the Manila Bay rehabilitation will take seven years to complete and a budget of not less than P47 billion.
“By next week, the secretary will publicly announce some of the plans,” he said.
Last week Cimatu declared that the strict implementation of Republic Act 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, is the “key to addressing water quality issues and other environmental problems in the historic Manila Bay.”
Cimatu recently conducted an ocular inspection of the Estero de San Antonio de Abad in Malate, Manila, where outfalls from establishments in the area discharge their wastewater.
After the inspection, Cimatu ordered that establishments have to put up their own sewage treatment plants (STPs), prohibiting the direct discharge of wastewater in the esteros.
The DENR chief also gave concerned business establishments three months to put up their own STPs.
To jump-start the rehabilitation, the DENR will start the cleanup of esteros by tracing the sources of untreated wastewater.
The planned rehabilitation program will be strategic to oversee the implementation of the three-phase Manila Bay Action Plan. Phase 1 involves the cleanup and improvement of water quality improvement, Phase 2 involves actual rehabilitation and Phase 3 covers protection and sustainment.
Phase 1 is set to begin this year. It will include the cleanup of esteros and waterways, reduction of the level of fecal coliform and toxic discharges from establishments, and provision of temporary sanitation facilities for informal settlers residing along the esteros and the Manila Bay shoreline.
Solid waste management and planning for the relocation of the informal settlers will also be done.
Critics of the Duterte administration remain unimpressed by the DENR chief’s plan.
In a statement, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the DENR itself is the one facilitating the destruction of Manila Bay.
This, after one of Pamalakaya’s local chapters received a notice of scoping from the DENR to reclaim a total of 420 hectares of Manila Bay within the municipal waters of Bacoor, Cavite.
The public scoping is an early stage of environmental impact assessment where the proponent aims to provide an overview of the proposed project.