“The pristine qualities of the premier tourist destination have been restored.”
“The pristine qualities of the premier tourist destination have been restored.”
My recent mandatory 10-day quarantine upon returning home from a month-long stay in the United States turned out to be an exceptional experience.
Besides the genuine Filipino hospitality of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza hotel staff, being billeted in a magnificent room with a view made it even more exhilarating.
It was a privilege to relive “Titanic moments” at the awesome sight of Manila Bay, and discover what an outstanding job the government has done to revive what until three years ago seemed a hopeless dead body of water.
For decades, Manila Bay had degraded into one vast “cesspool,” a term President Duterte used to describe the coastal waters of Boracay island when he ordered its six-month closure and rehabilitation in 2018.
After restoring the premier tourist destination to its pristine qualities, the President in early 2019 ordered the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, which many dismissed outright as an “improbable” proposition.
Manong Digong proved the naysayers wrong as inter-agency efforts, led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), achieved encouraging results in over two years.
The presidential task force implemented the dredging and cleanup of the coastal waters, and enforced the provisions of RA 9275 or the Philippine Clean Water Act.
The “Battle of Manila Bay” aims to make it fit again for swimming, skin-diving and other water recreational activities someday.
It would be someday soon with everyone’s cooperation, including local governments and residents of Metro Manila and two coastal regions.
The bay has come back to life as the fecal coliform level drastically dropped continuously.
Like in the “Save Boracay” project, hotels, restaurants and other establishments that dump wastewater in Manila Bay are required to maintain a sewage treatment plant or face closure.
The same strict environmental regulation versus waste dumping should apply to commercial ships, as well as smugglers and human traffickers’ vessels anchored in the bay, which the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) should keep an eye on.
From the balcony of my quarantine hotel suite, I was delighted to see two fishermen in separate wooden banca or canoes alongside each other hauling a day’s catch together with a fishnet, bayanihan-style.
Hotel staff said more and more people, who used to sail to the deep waters off Cavite, Batangas and Bataan, come to fish in Manila Bay, a stone’s throw away from the shoreline.
I’ve been to the same hotel back in the 90s but I did not care to look out the window as there was only disgusting stuff to see — a sea of garbage. I got upset with the stench of dark poopy water.
Today, just to watch the breathtaking sight of the splendor of Manila Bay any time of day, particularly its famed surreal sunset, is indeed a luxury that every Filipino can enjoy.