The Rotary Club of Manila (RCM) pledges its full support to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)’s unwavering commitment and efforts in the improvement, beautification, restoration and cleanup of the slowly dying Manila Bay.

“DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu is instrumental in carrying out the Supreme Court Mandamus ordering 13 government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay. The mandamus was long neglected since 2008, and Manila Bay continued to deteriorate over the years,” says Rotary Club of Manila President Robert L. Joseph, Jr.

The Board members of RCM, including Joseph, Immediate Past President Joaquin C. Rodriguez Sr., Directors Romeo Thaddeus R. Liamzon, Albert S. Alday, Johnny Chotrani, Celso E. Abastillas, Eduardo V. Enriquez III, Albert Palacios, and Farid Alain C. Schoucair, and Club Secretary Reginald T. Yu, are proud with the cleanup of the esteros and rivers, as well as the waste management in the nearby areas occupied by informal settlers.

They noted that there has been a dramatic improvement on the quality of the water—from one billion, three hundred million to 700 coliform level since the dredging of 27,000 metric tons of waste from the Manila Yacht Club to the US Embassy—from Jan 27 2019 to the present.

The first Sewage Treatment Plant at the Manila Yacht Club, which has been operational for about a month now, is processing half a million liters of waste daily. Three outflows to the bay is interconnected to the STP. No more waste is flowing to the bay. There is no more foul smell in the Manila Yacht Club until the US Embassy area.

According to Joseph, DENR will provide three more STPs in Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite. He added that President Rodrigo Duterte earmarked 43 billion pesos for the transferring of the informal settlers to low-rise buildings.

“Fixing Manila Bay is still a long way to go,” says Joseph. “The cleanup will take about six years to complete since the project requires dealing not only with complex metropolitan problems but also with vast area coverage. The Manila Bay area covers eight provinces in three regions—the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon. In addition, 17 principal river systems drain into the bay.”

Manila and Maynilad are supposed to complete the sewage treatment plants, but their contract is limited to serving residential areas. The commercial buildings and establishments should invest on their own STPs.