32
Manila Bay...
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY February 1 - 15, 2019
FROM PAGE 7
revitalizing the bay with the help
of Rotarian Tony Oposa who filed and
won the case, together with young UP
law students in the Supreme Court over
two decades ago. Bob explained how the
waste originating from factories, informal
settlers, hotels, and hospitals have been
piling into the bay through various
tributaries. Consequently, the waters reek
of a very unpleasant stench.
I was there on his takeover as
commodore and the stench was so terribly
bad—and it was early in the morning!
I had to stay inside the airconditioned
dining room to avoid the foul smell
coming from the bay. And then the once
beautiful walk along the wall of the bay
under the swaying palm trees was full of
the homeless, their makeshift houses,
food stalls, and other unpleasant riff-raff.
(Where’s my mayor all this time?)
It is Bob’s prime focus as
commodore of the Manila Yacht Club and
he has poured his usual passion into the
project.
The other agency very concerned
and supportive of the project is the
Department and Tourism. Sec. Berna
Romulo-Puyat has given her all-out
support, too.
“Picking up the trash in the waters
or along the coastline is not enough. The
overall objective is to
prevent the people of Metro Manila
from destroying our ecology and to make
Manila Bay a place where marine life can
thrive,” Bobby stressed.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling
some 27 years ago that Manila Bay should
be cleaned up by the local government
units, commercial establishments, and
the private sector, the pollution in Manila
Bay is even worse now!
Bob told us that Manila Water
Services Inc. and Maynilad will be playing
a pivotal role as they will be tasked to
construct sewage treatment plants in
the tributaries that carry the wastes from
the various cities in Metro Manila to the
bay. They have been remiss in this area,
despite our payments to them every
month, disguised as sewerage fees.
“These STPs will process the
wastes and prevent the bad elements
from entering Manila Bay by
processing the wastes. Maynilad
will also be on hand to flush out the septic
tanks of private residences and business
establishments to prevent their wastes
from flowing into the
tributaries,” he said.
The first important step in finally
saving the bay happened from the
veranda of the Yacht Club, when Sec.
Cimatu came to visit one morning. He
immediately ordered a closer inspection
that same day, and the very next day he
brought his technical teams to see where
the untreated sewage waters were seeping
to the bay. He and Bob boarded the yachts
of the club and the Coast Guard around
the bay. No, I missed that sail as I was still
retching from the foul odor emanating
from the nearby waters.
That day the first visual proofs
were unfortunately the Manila Zoo and
the Ospital ng Maynila. The cities that did
not have proper STP were Manila, Pasay,
and Pasig. Shame, shame! DILG Sec.
Eduardo Ano, kayo na ho bahala sa mga
mayors nila!
The Manila Zoo, which services
all of Metro Manila and its environs,
unfortunately has been ordered closed
until further notice. I really hope that the
zoo management and the city hall bring
the facility up to par with environmental
standards. That zoo is a place of
recreation and, yes, information for
many, many citizens especially those in
the marginalized sectors. Unfortunately, it
has been badly neglected. I used to bring
my young children there when it was still
clean.
Let’s make sure this campaign
becomes a lifestyle of change not a
“ningas cogon” show. This is
one area where President Duterte
can gain even his jaded critics’ approval!
(Reprinted from Manila Bulletin; mb.com.
ph)Batangas.
Commodore Robert “Bobby”
Joseph Jr. extolled Sec. Cimatu for
taking on this “gargantuan mission” to
rehabilitate the bay.
“You have to admire Sec. Cimatu
for taking up the cudgels for the mess that
is Manila Bay. The bay is one of the top
tourist attractions of Manila and it’s about
time we show the tourists and the Filipinos
abroad that we are capable of taking good
care of it,” said the Commodore.
Joseph praised the DENR for
having completed the rehabilitation of
Boracay despite opposition and criticism
from certain sectors. He expressed
confidence that the Manila Bay project
will succeed for as long as the DENR has
a determined leader like Sec. Cimatu.
After inspecting the Manila Bay area to
learn the extent of the problem, he lost
no time in galvanizing the forces of the
DENR, meeting with all the sectors after
getting a firm grip on the problem.
Our good friend, tourism advocate,
Bobby Joseph was elected Commodore
of MYC last Nov. 17. Upon taking over the
position, he announced an initiative for
the club to do its part in revitalizing the
bay with the help of Rotarian Tony Oposa
who filed and won the case, together with
young UP law students in the Supreme
Court over two decades ago. Bob
explained how the waste originating from
factories, informal settlers, hotels, and
hospitals have been piling into the bay
through various tributaries. Consequently,
the waters reek of a very unpleasant
stench.
I was there on his takeover as
commodore and the stench was so terribly
bad—and it was early in the morning!
I had to stay inside the airconditioned
dining room to avoid the foul smell
coming from the bay. And then the once
beautiful walk along the wall of the bay
under the swaying palm trees was full of
the homeless, their makeshift houses,
food stalls, and other unpleasant riff-raff.
(Where’s my mayor all this time?)
It is Bob’s prime focus as
commodore of the Manila Yacht Club and
he has poured his usual passion into the
project.
The other agency very concerned
and supportive of the project is the
Department and Tourism. Sec. Berna
Romulo-Puyat has given her all-out
support, too.
“Picking up the trash in the waters
or along the coastline is not enough. The
overall objective is to
prevent the people of Metro Manila
from destroying our ecology and to make
Manila Bay a place where marine life can
thrive,” Bobby stressed.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling
some 27 years ago that Manila Bay should
be cleaned up by the local government
units, commercial establishments, and
the private sector, the pollution in Manila
Bay is even worse now!
Bob told us that Manila Water
Services Inc. and Maynilad will be playing
a pivotal role as they will be tasked to
construct sewage treatment plants in
the tributaries that carry the wastes from
the various cities in Metro Manila to the
bay. They have been remiss in this area,
despite our payments to them every
month, disguised as sewerage fees.
“These STPs will process the
wastes and prevent the bad elements
from entering Manila Bay by
processing the wastes. Maynilad
will also be on hand to flush out the septic
tanks of private residences and business
establishments to prevent their wastes
from flowing into the
tributaries,” he said.
The first important step in finally
saving the bay happened from the
veranda of the Yacht Club, when Sec.
Cimatu came to visit one morning. He
immediately ordered a closer inspection
that same day, and the very next day he
brought his technical teams to see where
the untreated sewage waters were seeping
to the bay. He and Bob boarded the yachts
of the club and the Coast Guard around
the bay. No, I missed that sail as I was still
retching from the foul odor emanating
from the nearby waters.
That day the first visual proofs
were unfortunately the Manila Zoo and
the Ospital ng Maynila. The cities that did
not have proper STP were Manila, Pasay,
and Pasig. Shame, shame! DILG Sec.
Eduardo Ano, kayo na ho bahala sa mga
mayors nila!
The Manila Zoo, which services
all of Metro Manila and its environs,
unfortunately has been ordered closed
until further notice. I really hope that the
zoo management and the city hall bring
the facility up to par with environmental
standards. That zoo is a place of
recreation and, yes, information for
many, many citizens especially those in
the marginalized sectors. Unfortunately, it
has been badly neglected. I used to bring
my young children there when it was still
clean.
Let’s make sure this campaign
becomes a lifestyle of change not a
“ningas cogon” show. This is
one area where President Duterte
can gain even his jaded critics’ approval!
(Reprinted from Manila Bulletin; mb.com.
ph)
With 5 short-listed entries:
GMA Network leads Philippines’ contingent in 2019 New York
Festivals anew
GMA Network once again gives
the Philippines the most number
of finalists at the 2019 New York
Festivals “World’s Best TV and Films”
Competition, earning five out of the
country’s eight short-listed entries.
Top-rating and award-winning
magazine program Kapuso Mo,
Jessica Soho (KMJS), hosted by News
pillar Jessica Soho, was nominated for
its “Salay” feature in the Community
Portraits category. The segment
showed how students and teachers
from Caraga, Davao Oriental risk
their lives as they cross the river using
an improvised cable car made from
rattan called ‘salay’ just to go to school
and buy basic needs.
Meanwhile, the country’s longest-
running documentary program, I-
Witness, earned two nominations
this year: one for Sandra Aguinaldo’s
“War Zone ER” documentary, and
another for Kara David’s “Bilanggo
ng Isipan”.
Short-listed in the Current
Affairs category, “War Zone ER”, told
the stories of those tasked to save
the lives of the wounded during the
Marawi siege—not in a hospital but
inside a makeshift emergency room
in Marawi’s battle zone.
“Bilanggo ng Isipan”, on the other
hand, received a nomination in the
Health/Medical Information category.
The documentary presented the
current state of mental health in the
Philippines with three case studies,
who for a number of years have been
bound by chains by their own families
because of their mental condition.
Giving the country another slot in
the NYF “World’s Best TV and Films”
Competition is The Atom Araullo
Specials episode “No Leftovers”,
which was nominated in the Social
Issues category. In this documentary,
Atom Araullo showed that food
wastage remains a big problem in the
Philippines, tracing how food is wasted
from production to consumption.
Completing the list of Kapuso
finalists this year is GMA News TV’s
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
Reel Time with its “Batang Maestro”
documentary getting short-listed in
the Heroes category. It featured the
story of 12-year-old Dagul and his
fellow volunteer ‘little teachers’ in the
province of Sorsogon. They cross
the long river of Donsol on board a
bamboo raft and walk their way to a
village on a mountain just to reach
children who often miss their classes
because they live so far from school.
GMA Network remains the most
awarded Philippine organization at
the New York Festivals “World’s Best
TV and Films” Competition.