Sen. Cynthia Villar (File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Sen. Cynthia Villar on Monday blasted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for allowing reclamation projects in Manila Bay despite rehabilitation efforts there.
At the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources hearing on the rehabilitation and preservation of Manila Bay, Villar said DENR’s action was contradictory to the Supreme Court landmark order to clean up the bay.
“Why did we file a [petition] for mandamus for the cleaning of Manila Bay only to see the DENR fill up part of the bay?” Villar, who chairs the committee conducting the hearing, said in Filipino.
In 2008, the high court issued a writ of continuing mandamus directing 13 government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and eventually preserve Manila Bay.
They were given 10 years to do it until the deadline lapses in December 2018.
Environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa echoed Villar’s sentiments, even threatening to file charges against responsible officials at the Office of the Ombudsman.
“Senator Villar, please ask the senators about their policy on Manila Bay,” Oposa said in Filipino. “Do they prefer just to have it cemented. It might be easier to have it cemented rather than clean it of garbate.”
But the lawyer emphasized that, after 10 years, the government agencies and officials had become friends and partners for the rehabilitation of the bay. /atm