Philippinefails: DENR Dumps Massive Load of Litter on the Shores of Manila Bay

Saturday, September 5, 2020

DENR Dumps Massive Load of Litter on the Shores of Manila Bay

Does anyone in the Philippine government actually care about fixing the degraded state of the nation's environment? Apparently not. Last year Duterte disbanded the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission calling the river uncleanable and the project a waste of time. Most of their powers were transferred to the DENR.

In their bid to clean up Manila Bay the DENR has recently decided the best course of action to take is dumping litter all over its shores.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2020/09/03/2039869/white-sanding-along-manila-bay-will-not-make-it-cleaner-denr-reminded

Piles of white sand are being dumped along the shore of Manila Bay, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said, in a bid to transform the bay—known for its stunning sunset views and garbage-strewn, murky waters—into something similar to popular tourist destination Boracay.

"Here in Manila, we know that there are many who are poor. We will bring the white sand closer to them so it is like they are in Boracay even if they are just on Roxas Boulevard. That is what we aim to achieve here," Antiporda said in Filipino in an interview on radio DZBB.

But the move to fill the 500-meter stretch with white sand—actually crushed dolomite boulders, according to Antiporda—did not sit well with environmental groups, who said the dumping could cause more harm to Manila Bay.

Fishers group PAMALAKAYA called the project “completely absurd and highfaluting.”

“[This is] artificial rehabilitation focusing on aesthetic appearance rather than addressing the environmental degradation problems [of Manila Bay],” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA national chairperson, said in a statement.

“Filling of white sand would less likely contribute to the rehabilitation and restoration of degrading Manila Bay,” he added.

Is Undersecretary Benny Antiporda joking? Is that a joke? They want to bring the white sands of Boracay to the poor people in Manila? And they're going to do this by dumping hundred of tons of crushed dolomite along the shore of Manila Bay to the tune of P397.9 million and at the risk of destabilizing the habitat of the bay as well as the area where the rock was mined? The DENR, the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, is going to clean up Manila Bay by destroying the Philippines' natural resources?

Oh wait the DENR has already decided, without any evidence, that there won't be any detrimental impact on the environment because it's rehabilitation project and not a construction project!

The project to give Manila Bay a makeover by pouring “white sand” on its shoreline does not have to go through the process of preparing an environmental impact study and obtaining a compliance certificate, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said.

Projects in the country that may affect the environment need to go through the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) process and get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), environmental lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos said as a response to the move of the DENR to fill Manila Bay’s naturally dark shoreline with “white sand” as part of the government’s program to rehabilitate the degraded waterway.

But DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said the “beach nourishment” project is not covered by the country’s EIS system.

“It is a rehabilitation project, not a construction project. It’s only a beach nourishment [project] in which we’re beautifying it,” Antiporda told Philstar.com in a phone interview.