Malacanang defends Manila Bay makeover

MALACAÑANG on Friday clarified that it was not “white sand” that will be used to fill in the 500-meter stretch of the Baywalk as part of the Manila Bay rehabilitation.

Citing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the reported Manila Bay’s white sand makeover was “erroneous” as the “sand” that was brought to Manila was crushed “dolomite boulders,” which came from Cebu province.

“On the issue of the Manila Bay rehabilitation, per the DENR, the report that ‘white sand’ is being used to fill the stretch of the Baywalk is erroneous. DENR added ‘crushed dolomite boulders’ would be utilized for the aforesaid project,” Roque said in a statement.

Roque made the statement after fisherfolk group Pamalakaya earlier criticized the plan of the DENR to fill in a portion of the Manila Bay baywalk with “white sand.”

The group further described the plan as“artificial rehabilitation focusing on aesthetic appearance rather than addressing the environmental degradation problems of Manila Bay.

“Why would you put an alien, synthetic material in the coastline which could seriously hurt and disrupt its ecosystem?” Pamalakaya National Chairman Fernando Hicap said in a statement on Friday.

He warned that synthetic granule materials filled into the coast might pose a hazard to the marine ecosystem.

Pamalakaya urged the DENR to instead pursue a “genuine rehabilitation” that involves the restoration of mangrove areas that were destroyed due to destructive conversion projects.

Roque, however, defended the DENR rehabilitation plan, saying that funds for the program were already allocated even before the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic started.

“This forms part of the cleaning up of the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program with an allocated budget, which began even before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

In an video message sent to the media, however, DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns Benny Antiporda strongly defended the agency’s nourishment program of the Manila Bay, committing that there will be “engineering interventions” to avoid erosion, preserve the bay’s water quality and make it fit for swimming for the public.

Manila Bay’s fecal coliform level was around 300 million mpn (most probable number per 100 milliliters) per 100 ml when the rehabilitation works started in 2018.