WITH a new acting secretary and a couple of months to go before President Rodrigo Duterte bows out of office, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it will intensify compliance monitoring of business establishments in the Manila Bay area.
The announcement came after the DENR reported the discovery of more illegal discharges of wastewater that contribute to the contamination of the waters of Manila Bay. We have to believe the DENR on this because they are the officials in charge and they should know if indeed there are illegal discharges of wastewater into the bay. If so, then the former DENR secretary was remiss in his duty of protecting Manila Bay from pollution, which is one of the supposed achievements or legacies of the outgoing Duterte administration.
‘He admitted that there are “many secrets here in the Manila Bay waters” and proceeded to order an inspection of all establishments so the department can trace where the foul smell of Manila Bay is coming from.’
DENR Acting Secretary Jim O. Sampulna said the department’s monitoring will reinforce the water quality management. Sampulna said they will have to identify the real sources of untreated wastewater and sewage discharging into Manila Bay.
The acting secretary must have been surprised that during a walk-through in Manila Baywalk last week, he received reports that there are still illegal drainage pipes leading to the Manila Bay. He wants inspectors of the DENR, which is leading the interagency Manila Bay Task Force (MBTF), to identify where the illegal drainage pipes are coming from “so we can order the stoppage of the illegal discharges.”
A saturation drive, no less, is needed to confront this huge environmental pollution, as the new secretary confirmed. He admitted that there are “many secrets here in the Manila Bay waters” and proceeded to order an inspection of all establishments so the department can trace where the foul smell of Manila Bay is coming from.
We have all the laws and the Supreme Court orders to protect Manila Bay from pollution, such as Republic Act (RA) 9275 or Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, RA 9003 or Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, and Presidential Decree 1586, and yet the bay is still dirty. The dolomite beach has been funded and implemented to beautify part of the bay yet the low water quality remains.
There is a task force of several government agencies to cleanup Manila Bay. They can begin the work today, but we can only pin our hopes on the coming administration to make a difference.
