The Department of the Interior and Local Government is set to issue a show cause order against 1,000 of the 5,714 barangays for defying orders to strictly enforce environmental laws in their respective areas along the Manila Bay Watershed Area.
Undersecretary for Barangay Operations Martin Diño said the DILG department has ordered 178 local
government units and 5,714 barangays along the Manila Bay Watershed Area to conduct weekly clean-up drives in compliance with the order of President Rodrigo Duterte.
He said the figure is only the initial batch of erring barangays from Central Luzon, Calabarzon and the National Capital Region.
Diño lashed out at the village chiefs who failed to submit the required weekly reports as directed by the DILG as he also presented the evidence against them.
“Around 1,000 of the 5,714 barangays remain to be indifferent to our cause, making a complete mockery of our overall campaign by continuously disregarding these high-level orders for rehabilitation of the bay. It’s about time these negligent officials get a lesson for not complying with and enforcing applicable and environmental laws and policies pursuant to the law,” Diño said in a press conference Tuesday.
Diño said that cases will be filed against the erring barangay chairman before the Office of the Ombudsman if they fail to justify their non-compliance with the DILG order.
“We need barangays who are compliant in enforcing the law within their areas of jurisdiction with regards to the rehabilitation of Manila Bay. I continue to urge our village chiefs to join this campaign and perform their duty as mandated by the law,” he said in Filipino.
With more than 5,000 barangay chairmen covered by the Manila Bay area, Diño said more than half a million volunteers may be tapped to help clean the bay.
Diño added the DILG is routinely assessing the bid of the National Housing Authority in providing relocation sites to squatters in the area.
The DILG official said relocating squatters living along rivers, esteros and other tributaries connected to the Manila Bay is very important because they are a main source of pollution in the bay.
Polluting industrial companies and restaurants are also being issued notices for their infractions.
In January 2019, the government launched a massive rehabilitation program for the Manila Bay.
Despite a vigorous campaign by the government to clean the silted and polluted Manila Bay, only 17 percent among the 5,714 barangays surrounding and fronting it have only complied with the efforts to restore the bay. With PNA