A historic Sunday in Manila Bay

I was in Manila over the weekend to attend the formal launching of the Manila Bay Clean-up, an advocacy that I helped spearhead with my columns in The Philippine STAR. Commodore Robert “Bobby” Joseph whom I exhorted and challenged to make his new appointment as commodore of the Manila Yacht Club (MYC) be more meaningful and fruitful demanded that I attend the launching. It was indeed a historic day because thousands of people went to the Quirino Grandstand to join this official launching to clean up Manila Bay. They shouting in chorus: Clean up Manila Bay!!!

It was indeed a historic moment for it was truly the first time that volunteers came in droves for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay. The top officials of the Duterte administration were all there starting with Department of Environment and Natural Resources Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu who led the program. He was joined by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, acting Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Danilo Lim, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde, and the heads of the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard and so many more. We could have had a cabinet meeting at the Quirino Grandstand last Sunday.

Then these Cabinet secretaries lead the Unity Walk from the Quirino Grandstand to nearby MYC and all of them made speeches. Most of them made very short speeches, all vowing to commit their offices to the need to rehabilitate Manila Bay. It was Secretary Cimatu who had the longest speech; calling this effort as the New Battle for Manila Bay, but this battle is not against a foreign invader but against us making Manila Bay as a garbage dump and toilet. After the speeches were done, three commercial establishments were slapped with cease and desist orders by the government for “generating and discharging pollutive wastewater.” This meant Cimatu was serious in his effort to clean up Manila Bay just like he did Boracay.

The three establishments were the famous Aristocrat Restaurant, the Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant (where we were supposed to have a media conference), and the Esplanade San Miguel by the Bay. According to the DENR, authorities immediately cut off the water sources of the three establishments to prevent them from discharging wastewater, although they can still operate their businesses. There’s a possibility that the establishments will be permanently closed in the next few days according to the DENR.

Simultaneous clean-up activities were also conducted in Bulacan, Bataan, and Pampanga. We also saw sewage flowing into Manila Bay close to the Manila Yacht Club being cleaned up. Earlier this month, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Manila Bay rehabilitation plan proposed by the DENR. He allocated P42.95 billion for the implementation of the project within three to seven years.

I also made my own personal history because I joined the Rotary Club of Manila at 6 a.m. at the Manila Hotel and walked towards the Quirino Grandstand and by 8 a.m. the more than 6,000 volunteers went on a Unity Walk from the Quirino Grandstand. It was a long 3.7-kilometer walk, the longest I had since my kidney transplant and in a way a personal history.

One of those show joined the crowd was our fellow Cebuano, Atty. Tony Oposa who singlehandedly filed a petition before the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Ricardo Puno in 2008. By December 2009 the SC issued a mandamus order to 13 government agencies to clean up Manila Bay, but no one obeyed the SC order, then a year later it was the presidency of then President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino who didn’t do anything for the country.

I interviewed Atty. Oposa for my talkshow with Commodore Joseph and he noticed that Cebuanos were spearheading the clean-up of Manila Bay instead of the Tagalogs. Yes, Atty. Oposa started this in 2009, I followed it up last year and challenged an appointed Cebuano, Commodore Joseph. Who also intimated to the three of us that God works in people with medical issues like Bobby and Tony Oposa who both had cancer issues and me with my kidney transplant. Indeed, God works in different ways!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.