THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will lead the simultaneous of the launch the Manila Bay Cleanup and Rehabilitation this coming week.
The event will feature cleanup activities on January 27 in Barangay Tawiran, Obando, Bulacan; Barangay Lucanin, Mariveles, Bataan; and Barangay Sta. Filomena, Guagua, Pampanga. This is part of the on-going compliance with the Supreme Court order to cleanup Manila Bay. Parts of the waters that drain into the bay come from Central Luzon.
It has been 10 years since the Supreme Court (SC) ordered 13 national and local government agencies to clean Manila Bay.
In 2017, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu led the formulation of efforts and actions for the implementation of the 2017-2022 Operational Plan for the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy.
It provides for a guiding framework for all stakeholders like local government units, academe, private sector and the communities on how to approach the gargantuan tasks of rehabilitating the Bay ecosystem in the coming years.
The usual interventions are still in place like the reduction of pollution loading, relocation of informal settlers, compliance with solid waste management, reforestation of watersheds, protected areas, and critical habitats, restoration of productivity of abandoned fishponds to mangrove areas and enrichment of existing mangrove areas in NCR, Bataan, Pampanga and Bulacan.
Last year, Senator Cynthia Villar did not mince her words during the coastal clean-up event in Lubao town early that Manila Bay is now five-times dirtier than before.