WE commend and support the Duterte administration’s plan to implement a Boracay-like rehabilitation of Manila Bay, although we have to note that Boracay itself is far from being fully or successfully rehabilitated. There are still many establishments on the island that are not environmentally compliant, and work on the sewage system and road network is still ongoing.
However, just exercising the political will to clean our bodies of water is a big step in the right direction. Indeed, the government must stop the polluters first and enforce the law before any kind of cleanup can take place.
We made the same point about the Pasig River. Any kind of rehabilitation would not be successful if the government cannot relocate the factories and the squatters who keep dumping their waste in the river. For that matter, any kind of restoration project for Manila Bay will not succeed without cleaning the Pasig River, as the latter is a major tributary of the bay.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources warned it will close down hotels, condominiums and other establishments that are found polluting the Manila Bay. The DENR has started inspections along the bay area. For instance, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu inspected the government-run Manila Zoo on Friday and found it guilty of draining untreated sewage into one of the estuaries that lead to the Manila Bay.
While we support cleaning our bodies of water and stopping water pollution, we also wish to urge the government to involve the stakeholders in any kind of environmental policy-making, not only because our laws and regulations demand their participation but also because the increasing complexity of these issues need their involvement.
Obviously, the task of cleaning Manila Bay, the Pasig River, Boracay and other bodies of water becomes more challenging and complex because of the many groups that have a role in exacerbating environmental problems, the competing interests of stakeholders and the thick bureaucracy in government.
In Boracay, the government chose the immediate albeit temporary closure of the island after the President called it a cesspool. In the case of the Manila Bay, it is better to involve affected residents and the owners of malls, condos, hotels and other concerned establishments in the decision-making process and, ultimately, in the rehabilitation efforts.
The DENR, however, has to explain why these establishments were allowed to discharge untreated wastewater to the bay all these years. It’s the DENR’s job to inspect and approve their effluents. Here’s the sixty-four-dollar question: Why didn’t the DENR require these businesses to install wastewater-treatment facilities before they were allowed to operate?
The local governments also share part of the blame: Why did they allow squatter communities to rise along water tributaries that are considered danger zones? There are thousands of squatter families living along the banks of Metro Manila’s main rivers and their tributaries, as well as the coastal communities of Manila Bay, who keep dumping garbage and human waste into our bodies of water.
The national government has its own sin of omission: It should have ordered the private water concessionaires—Maynilad Water Services Inc. and the Manila Water Co.—to carry out with dispatch, not in long-drawn fashion, the water-treatment part of their contracts. As House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza pointed out, “The real way to clean up the bay is to force the two water concessionaires to implement the wastewater-treatment facility. This will ensure that wastewater is already clean before being thrown out into the Manila Bay.”
There are many organizations and people that are affected by government policies, and it is only fair to involve them in the decision-making process. This would help raise stakeholders’ awareness of the problems and create support for solutions. Getting everybody to support the Manila Bay rehabilitation efforts will make the government’s job easier.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano