MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Interior and Local Government on Monday said it was doing its job in cleaning up Manila Bay, saying issuances were released early this year to ensure that local governments have been doing their part in the clean-up of the polluted waters.
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Brian Yamsuan said that Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno issued a memorandum last June 2 requiring all Metro Manila mayors, as well as the governors, municipal and city mayors of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan Pampanga and Bataan to “inspect all factories, commercial establishments and private homes along the banks of major river systems, and other minor rivers and waterways that eventually discharge water into the Manila Bay, including lands abutting the bay…”
The inspection, Yamsuan said, was meant “to determine whether they have wastewater treatment facilities or hygienic septic tanks, as prescribed by existing laws, ordinances, and rules and regulations.”
Yamsuan’s statement came after environmental lawyer Tony Oposa asked the Supreme Court to cite in contempt several Cabinet officials including Puno for to comply with a 2008 Supreme Court ruling ordering government agencies to inform the high court of steps taken to rehabilitate Manila Bay.
In the same June memo, Yamsuan said Puno directed concerned local government executives to require non-complying establishments and homes “to set up said facilities or septic tanks within a reasonable time to prevent industrial wastes, sewage water, and human wastes from flowing into these rivers, waterways, esteros and the Manila Bay under pain of closure or imposition of fines and other sanctions.”
On June 10, Yamsuan said that Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS) director Rolando Acosta submitted a draft Manila Bay Action Plan for Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and the Calabarzon region (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon).
Under the Manila Bay Action Plan, local government units have until September to create regional oversight committees (ROCs) and teams of field monitors (TFMs) to conduct inspection and organize dialogues with local executives, community leaders and pro-environment groups, as well as conduct on-site monitoring of actions.
On August 12, said Puno directed DILG officials to draw up a National Database on the number of concerned factories, commercial establishments and private homes “to determine whether they have wastewater treatment facilities or hygienic septic tanks to prevent industrial wastes, sewage water, and human waste from flowing into the rivers, waterways, esteros and the Manila Bay.”
Progress reports of the DILG’s monitoring on the Manila Bay clean-up is regularly being submitted to an inter-agency committee headed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Yamsuan claimed.
“This interagency committee has met several times and it was the DILG’s impression that this panel was the one updating the high court on the progress of the Manila Bay cleanup and rehabilitation efforts by the various government agencies concerned,” Yamsuan added.
