A city ordinance passed without public consultations and in a “sneaky” manner by the City Council of Manila and signed by Mayor Alfredo Lim will, if not stopped, deprive Filipinos of one of their priceless, but free, treasures — the sight of the sun setting over the Manila Bay. Worse, it will have grave environmental and economic implications, a former city executive said.
Manila’s former three-term mayor and Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Lito Atienza yesterday denounced the manner in which Ordinance 8233 — authorizing the City of Manila, through Mayor Lim, to  file an application with the Philippine Reclamation Authority to reclaim portions of Manila Bay — was passed last year by the council under presiding officer Vice Mayor Francisco “Isko” Domagoso. It effectively repeals a 1993 city measure, Ordinance 7777, prohibiting reclamation along Manila Bay from the portion near the US Embassy to the Cultural Center of the Philippines, where Manila’s boundary with Pasay City begins.
While Ordinance 8233 repeals in one blow Ordinance 7777, it simply says, in Section 3, that it is “hereby amended.” This is an outright joke, a grand deception, said Atienza, because it completely knocked out the entire measure and did not simply amend it. For an ordinance of such grave implications, widespread, intensive public hearings should have been held, Atienza said.
The former three-term mayor said he had already received feedback from many property owners and establishments along the Bay area, expressing deep anxiety about the impact of the reclamation.
“It’s as if, with one stroke of the pen, Manila Bay as we know and appreciate it, will be effectively erased,” Atienza said.
“The challenge on all of us today is how to revive and restore the good condition of the waters of the bay but not to kill it. This was even ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) in a continuing mandamus. But it dictates the cleaning of the bay and not to cover it up,” Atienza added.
Beyond the impact on the rights of property owners and the “priceless joy” that the sight of the Bay gives everyone, Atienza warned of the severe environmental impact of the reclamation project which he said seemed a carte blanch for Lim to totally eradicate the bay.
“Did they even conduct an environmental impact study? Was DENR consulted?” Atienza, who served for almost three years as environment secretary, wanted to know.
He warned that with the reclamation, huge portions of Southern and Central Manila will “have our own version of Dagat-dagatan” where flood systems go haywire and entire communities are often flooded when the rains come or as a result of tidal action. He was referring to the huge reclamation area in the Northern Manila foreshore area where floods are routine, especially for Navotas and Malabon.
If the city government insists on pushing through with the reclamation, Atienza said he and local community leaders will pursue the matter in court, even all the way up to the SC.
Ordinance 7777 was enacted by the city council, with then Vice Mayor Atienza as presiding officer, on Jan. 13, 1993.
It is a brief — only two paragraphs — piece of legislation, underscoring, said Atienza, “the simple but grave message of the law, i.e. there should be no reclamation on Manila’s part of the Bay.”
Because any reclamation was prohibited, Atienza said, it became possible for countless Manileños — and non-residents — to continue to benefit from the baywalk area.
All cities with waterfronts, like Manila’s bay portion, progressed and flourished with proper use of the water as a recreational and added attraction, he stressed.