Secretary Roy Cimatu on Tuesday said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources “is more determined than ever to restore Manila Bay.”
He vowed to be “more determined than ever to win the so-called Battle for Manila Bay,” saying the rehabilitation of the heavily polluted water body was an “extremely difficult task.”
He said much had been achieved since the Manila Bay cleanup and rehabilitation kicked off in January last year.
“Our effort to restore Manila Bay is now in full swing and we hope to sustain the momentum of restoring it to its former glory in the coming years,” he said.
He said the Manila Bay rehabilitation will remain a top priority of the government until 2022.
According to Cimatu, chairman of the Manila Bay Task Force, the rehabilitation was just in its first phase—the cleanup and water quality monitoring.
The next two phases would be relocation and rehabilitation, and education, protection and sustainment, he said.
As of Sept. 26, the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau and the Laguna Lake Development Authority inspected 9,708 commercial establishments around Manila Bay.
Of this number, 2,478 were issued notices of violations and 107 were slapped with cease-and-desist orders.