The Modern-Day Battle of Manila Bay

Thousands of people including local authorities, industries and citizen have joined the what is now
called, “The Modern-Day battle of Manila Bay,” for a massive clean-up in the Manila bay to further
eliminate the trash that has been polluting its waters ever since 2008.

In an article in Global Citizen, ‘Manila Bay is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world,” with
the Philippines generating more than 4,000 tons every day and the significant use of plastic sachets has
drastically worsen the problem.

The ocean pollution in the Philippines had caused 200 marine species’ death from the ingestion of
plastic bags and choking on them, and has continued to poison it as years passed by. The pollution had
caused clogged waterways and eventually flooding.

Polluter of its Pearls

Generating 2.7 million tons of plastic waste annually and having 20 per cent - or half a million tons
leaking into the oceans, the Philippines has become the world’s third largest ocean polluter despite the
environmental laws that has been on effect already for centuries now.

The cause? Single-use plastic and corruption.

Products sold in single-use sachets include instant coffee, shampoo, cooking oil, food seasoning, etc. and
once used, they’re just thrown away. No one chooses to recycle them, because they have been used
already.

Officials should be the front liners of these movements to be consistently educated about the
importance of waste management and so that they may be able to properly implement it.

“Plastic, particularly those for single-use packaging, has greatly contributed to the degradation of the
environment,” said Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu. “Plastic pollution continues to poison our oceans
and injure marine life. When not properly disposed, they clog waterways and cause flooding.”

Clean-up Drives

Starting from January, a widespread coastal clean-up was conducted by more than five thousand
government workers and volunteers who had successfully collected garbage that is equivalent to 11 full
garbage trucks.

In addition, Memorandum Circa No. 2019-09 was issued by the Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG) and had mandated 178 LGUs and 5,714 barangays to conduct weekly clean-up
drives.

It wasn’t only at this year that the clean-up activity was initiated; the plan for Manila Bay’s rehabilitation
has been long overdue as it was initially ordered by the Supreme Court in 2008 when a case was filed
against government agencies for their “continuous negligence in keeping Manila Bay clean.”
According to a report in Rappler, 5,700 people have committed to joining up the clean-up effort on a
regular basis.

Continuing the progress

The government has also started to shut down the most polluting companies in the country, and also
started to encourage the private companies to invest in better management systems which affects the
regions’ sewage.

In addition, authorities are also planning to clear the rivers that often carry wastes into the bays of
different regions. When sewage and industrial waste is prevented to be carried into the bays, it will
allow them to rehabilitate over the next several years.

Clean-up drives have also begun in other bays and progress is being observed as netizens in the social
media continue to spread about the good news of people volunteering and working together to
eliminate the wastes in the rivers, bays and lakes.

Small Steps, Big Leap

Local movements against environmental issues may be considered small now, but once encouraged and
enforced by all citizens of the country, it could make a big leap towards the near-impossible future of
having our world clean, better and an even safer place to live on.

//taf//12//scitech