Senator Villar: Manila Bay 5 times dirtier now than in 2008

Manila Bay is now five times dirtier compared to its condition in 2008 when the Supreme Court ordered 13 national agencies to restore it to a state “fit for swimming and other forms of recreation,” Sen. Cynthia Villar said during a visit to Lubao, Pampanga, on Monday.

“Ten years after the Supreme Court issued a continuing mandamus [a writ that compels the government to perform its duties properly] to clean Manila Bay, it is five times dirtier now. We have somewhat failed in this effort,” she told fishermen as she and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led a series of coastal cleanup activities.

Call for more action

“We need to double (our cleanup efforts). We should not fail forever,” said Villar, chair of the Senate committees on agriculture and environment.

She added that restoring the health of Manila Bay and other fishing grounds was another way of reducing poverty among 1.5 million fishermen and lowering the cost of fish.

At least 17 cities in Metro Manila, Cavite and seven provinces in Central Luzon drain their waters into the bay, which spans 1,994 square kilometers with a coastline that stretches 190 km. Cavite and Metro Manila straddle the bay in the east, Bulacan and Pampanga in the north and Bataan in the west.