Manila: By next year, the government hopes to finish relocating informal settlers in the fringes of the once iconic Manila Bay as part of rehabilitation efforts.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is embarking on a massive campaign to clean up and revive the Manila Bay to its former beauty and this necessitates removing informal settlers living along bay side areas.
According to Environment Undersecretary Benny Antiporda, the DENR is working with the Interior Department for the relocation of hundreds of thousands of people living in areas close to the Manila Bay.
The presence of informal settlers along the fringes of the Bay had long been blamed as source of pollution.
The Manila Bay embraces coastal areas in Metro Manila as well as in Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan and Cavite provinces. Aside from the Pasig River — Metro Manila’s arterial water way, six other major rivers intersect the 190km-long coastline.
It can be recalled that after its successful rehabilitation of Boracay Island, the government, through the DENR has turned its attention to improving the conditions at Mania Bay.
Antiporda said Local Government Units (LGUs) must not tolerate the proliferation of squatters along the Bay. He said they would file charges against officials found to be encouraging and not taking action on illegal settlers.
It has been a long known fact that some elected officials tolerate the presence of squatters in their areas for political purposes. This is especially true during elections when politicians, in a bid to get more votes, tacitly allow and even encourage squatting.
Antiporda said this effort of removing squatters from the Manila Bay may take at least a year.
“We hope that by Christmas next year, we can have a cleaner Manila Bay,” he said during a recent forum.
Aside from removing squatters from the Manila Bay, the DENR will take other steps such as reducing garbage dumping in the bay as well as using treatment technologies to improve water quality,
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier said that they are targeting to improve water quality at the Manila Bay to a point where it would again be safe to swim in.
During earlier times, the Manila Bay was a favourite spot for frolickers due to its proximity to the capital.
According to Cimatu, the DENR plans to step up its environment law enforcement activities so that the department can raise funds to finance the rehabilitation of Manila Bay
“We have fines paid for violation of environmental laws, so we’ll try to find out if these can be used for the rehabilitation,” the secretary said.
