A senior official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government on Monday blamed squatters for the degradation of Manila Bay.
“We have discovered that 80 percent of the pollution in Manila Bay comes from informal-settler families,” Undersecretary Epimaco Densing of the DILG informed lawmakers from the House of Representatives.
Densing made the statement at the hearing conducted by the House of Representatives’ Committee Natural Resources, chaired by Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. on the status of Manila Bay rehabilitation that is being undertaken by several government agencies headed by the Environment and Tourism departments.
Barzaga earlier filed House Resolution 247 directing the natural resources panel to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the status of Manila Bay rehabilitation and the cleanup of water tributaries leading to it, as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte and by the continuing writ of mandamus of the Supreme Court.
A writ of mandamus is an order from a court to a government agency or agencies to do something, in this case, to cleanup Manila Bay.
The continuous pollution of Manila Bay had impacted the health and livelihood of the coastal communities and produced deleterious effects on the marine life and resources in Manila Bay and contingent waters and tributaries leading to the said bay,” Barzaga noted in his resolution.
During the Monday hearing, representatives from the Health department and Bureau of Fisheries affirmed the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Task Force where Densing is a member that massive garbage, fecal and waste sewage have worsened the pollution.
“Based on our laboratory analysis, the level of salt oxygen is very low while the ammonia levels are very high,” the BFAR executive told Barzaga who conducted an ocular on the area.
The members of the Task Force also told legislators that pollution has been mainly been derived from decomposing organisms, fecal and waste sewage although the DOH has already put in place sewerage “dislodgers” and installed toilet facilities all over.
Barzaga, meanwhile, said that “we cannot clean the Bay unless we remove the illegal settlers. We will monitor your activities. Our main concern here is the ordinary people and the environment. It’s as simple as that.”
The Task Force has allotted a supplemental budget of P2.1 billion that it can utilize until June 2020, and another P1.4 billion is allocated for the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Plan for the fiscal year 2020.
Barzaga also asked members of the Task Force on how its budget has been spent to improve the Manila Bay.
“We have to know your expenses and accomplishments on a quarterly basis. You have to submit quarterly reports because we are reverting back to the cash-based budgeting system,” Barzaga told the government officials.
He also said that the National Housing Authority must be able to take a concrete steps to address the problem of squatting in Manila Bay.
He said the housing agency has been allotted a total of P8.6 billion for relocation purposes this year, and P6.1 billion of which has already been released by the Department of Budget and Management.