The Truth About the Manila Bay White Sand Project

Ever since the news broke that the DENR had dumped a massive load of litter on the shores of Manila Bay in order to beautify it I have been collecting news stories so that at a later point I could put the pieces together of this silly and awful story. It really was an absurd decision to dump crushed dolomite sourced from Cebu all over Manila Bay to "beautify" it. 

There are a lot of dumb stories like this one:

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1115063

Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso on Thursday thanked the national government for the rehabilitation and beautification of the Manila Bay shoreline, saying it will attract more tourists and investors and will create more jobs for the people. 

“Maganda yun kasi urban eh, highly urbanized tapos bigla kang me beach (that is very nice because it’s a highly urbanized city then you have a beach) that’s a good attraction for the city, the business, employment and the people as habitants of the city,” Domagoso said in an interview over ANC on Thursday. 

Domagoso said the “beach nourishment” project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in a portion of Manila Bay’s shoreline is a welcome development. 

“If a year or two or five from now, our next generation will experience what our lolos and lolas (grandparents) experienced in the heyday, times of Manila when the Manila Bay is clean and there is a beach in the area, siguro yun ang regalo natin sa next generation (that could be our gift to the next generation),” he said. 

He said this is not the first time that crushed dolomites are being used for shoreline beautification, citing the Monte Carlo, Monaco in Europe, the Plantation Bay Resort in Cebu, and several other big hotels that used dolomites for their man-made beaches. 

To protect the crushed dolomites from being washed out, Domagoso said DENR has applied engineering mechanisms. 

However, he said the city government of Manila will file charges if the rehabilitation of Manila Bay is proven to have violated environmental laws. 

He added that Manila is willing to spend money in the future to help preserve the rehabilitated Manila Bay.

This article really touches on what is wrong with the so-called Manila Bay beautification project. There is so much nonsense and baloney in the above paragraphs I can't even break it down properly. Dumping crushed dolomite on a small section of Manila Bay and treating that event as if now Manila Bay is clean and beautiful and will attract investors and tourists is RIDICULOUS!!

Why would pouring crushed dolomite on a beach entice investors to spend millions of dollars in the Philippines? This is an incredibly dumb assertion to justify the unjustifiable. Investors want a functional government and economy to protect their investments. Foreign investors especially want to own their businesses and not share it 60/40. Everyone wants endless red tape and runarounds eliminated. They don't care about crushed rocks on a beach!

A group of marine scientists from the UP did a write up about the stupidity of this situation.

http://www.msi.upd.edu.ph/?fbclid=IwAR0t3SKIpPO9mE9nDqUE4QPdAgdXCCc5B2O3968bgnp0PALXBxsKITRTbdg

There are no short-cuts to a cleaner environment.  The use of crushed Dolomite sand will not help solve the environmental problems in Manila Bay.  At most, it is a beautification effort that is costly and temporary.  The task of cleaning and restoring Manila Bay may be daunting but it needs to be done for future generations of Filipinos to benefit from its many uses.     

You don't need to read that report. The concluding paragraph is enough. Anyone with a lick of common sense would have come to the same conclusion.

Bypassing all the other stories about the Manila Bay white sand project (such as the Cebu provincial government being unaware that dolomite was being mined and transported to Manila and apparently no one takes the time to actually read the budget before it is passed) let's cut to the chase and to the truth of the matter about the Manila Bay white sand project.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/30/20/manila-lgu-sets-up-portable-toilets-in-tondo-to-stop-or-minimize-open-defecation-in-manila-bay

The local government of Manila City said Wednesday it teamed up with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to install portable toilets in Parola, Tondo to stop or minimize open defecation affecting Manila Bay. 

Mayor Francisco 'Isko Moreno' Domagoso and DENR Director for Administrative Service Rolando Castro on Wednesday signed the supplemental memorandum of agreement. 

Under the "Kubeta Ko" project, the local government will install portable toilets in Parola, Tondo for the use of informal settler families in the area. 

The DENR allotted a total of P10 million to the City of Manila for the said project, with an additional P5 million to "cover operational costs" during the duration of the project. 

"Kubeta Ko" will be using the viable portable, container-based toilet technology developed by Loowat, Limited. The said company also managed to secure funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation for the project. 

The project will be implemented for a year.

That headline alone tells the whole story. Manila Bay is literally full of human feces and garbage. And the morons in charge think dumping crushed dolomite sourced from Cebu onto the shores of Manila Bay will change a thing?  It won't!