Trash woes of our bay areas

We joined the family, relatives, friends and colleagues of our late STAR publisher Maximo V. Soliven in commemoration of his fifth death anniversary held yesterday in front of his memorial statue at the Baywalk in Roxas Boulevard. The statue was ordered built in 2008 by Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim in honor of Soliven as the highest decorated Filipino journalist in terms of awards won and conferred upon him here and abroad. 

Former UNESCO director-general Preciosa Soliven, widow of our late publisher, and STAR columnist Babe Romualdez led the wreath-laying rites. Mayor Lim reminisced the exploits of “Max” as a journalist who could never be cowed by powerful enemies nor influenced by his closest of friends.

At the end of the program, Mayor Lim presented the architectural sketch of a planned Baywalk Wharf to be constructed at the back of Soliven’s statue. Soliven’s statue stands facing traffic in Roxas Boulevard across the Aristocrat Restaurant. It is the only structure undamaged by the storm surge of typhoon “Pedring” last September 27.

Over late breakfast he hosted after the program, Mayor Lim got various suggestions for the name of the new Baywalk promenade like “By the Way Wharf” in honor of the title of the daily, hard-hitting column of Soliven at The STAR.

If plans push through, Mayor Lim said the project may be jointly undertaken by the Manila city government with the national government as part of the repair and rehabilitation project for the Baywalk, the seawalls of which were destroyed by Pedring’s storm surge.

As conceptualized by the city government planners, the proposed wharf project will not only cater to tourists but would also feature family-oriented establishments, from restaurants and souvenir shops to play park for children.

Mayor Lim’s ambitious plans also include a dolphin show at the Baywalk Wharf. That is, if the government would succeed to clean up the Manila Bay to make it livable for such cute water mammals to survive its waters.

Through these years of wanton neglect, Manila Bay has been turned into one big sewer and dumpsite for the entire metropolis. The storm surge that brought in waist-deep floods into the busy road of Roxas Boulevard highlighted the sad state of Manila Bay transformed as watery trash bin due to poor, outdated garbage disposal system.

We in Metro Manila could only envy Bulacan folks with the start of the construction of a sanitary landfill that would effectively save their river system from spillage of garbage and trash. Like the storm surge we experienced during Pedring, the people of Bulacan also suffered from severe prolonged flooding that damaged their crops and houses.

But Bulakeños have reason to be happy and relieved to see efforts being undertaken by national and local government officials to address the current lamentable state of the rivers running through the province, particularly the Marilao, Meycauayan, and Obando rivers.

The provincial government of Bulacan, municipal officials and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and private developer Ecoshield Development Corporation signed earlier this week a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to fully cooperate in cleaning up and revive the rivers. Bulacan Governor Wilhelmino Siy Alvarado, DENR Secretary Ramon Paje and Obando Mayor Orencio Gabriel signed the MOU with Ecoshield.

Under the MOU, Ecoshield will put up a modern sanitary landfill in Obando town and has pledged to put facility to use in the solid waste management program of Bulacan. Both the DENR and provincial and municipal officials have welcomed the Ecoshield sanitary landfill as a vital component in the campaign to clean up the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando River system. The landfill is expected to boost the respective solid waste management programs of the local government units of the three Bulacan towns.

The cleanup operations involve the dredging of the clogged rivers, which the various towns along the rivers have been pursuing with support from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The Ecoshield landfill likewise offered a solution to the problem of what to do with the dredged materials. These cannot be just dumped along the riverbanks and cause the same problem of wastes going back to the river system.

With application of modern technology and design, the proposed Ecoshield landfill will receive, process, and dispose of solid wastes to reduce danger to health of residents in nearby communities. Designed by environmental specialists and engineers, the landfill will take in and process the garbage and contaminated mud deposits that would be dredged from the rivers.

Architect Rafael Tecson, executive vice president and general manager of Ecoshield Development Corporation, said the landfill is designed with a multi-barrier system, embankments and engineered high-density plastic layering that would prevent the seepage of contaminated waters to outlying communities.

Phase 1 of the project is estimated to cost around P350 million to P480 million and some 200 jobs will reportedly be created once the facility is operational.

Tecson explained in a meeting with stakeholders there is certainly no truth to claims about the landfill’s threat to environment by the proximity of the waste disposal facility to Obando River and Manila Bay. Purportedly, concerned citizens groups, environmental organizations, and a fisherfolk alliance, asked the DENR to put a stop to the construction of the 44-hectare landfill in Barangay Salambao in Obando for this reason.

It’s just too bad that certain quarters are inciting public opposition to the landfill because of alleged “selfish political interests and commercial greed,” Gov. Alvarado lamented. A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court for the issuance of the “Writ of Kalikasan” to stop the proposed landfill.

The facility though is targeted to be operational second quarter of next year, barring unforeseen hitches like purported attempts to derail the project by certain vested interests, politically and otherwise.

But no amount of opposition and intrigues obviously being stirred against the landfill should stop a worthwhile project such as this. In the meantime, people have to bear the trash woes of our bay areas from Manila all the way to Bulacan.