The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will spend another P1.35 billion next year for the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program.
But Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza on Saturday warned the new money will just go down the drain owing to the failure of Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. to capture and decontaminate the national capital’s wastewater.
“Nothing has changed. Right now, the bulk of Metro Manila’s raw sewage, including those from households, still drain into the Pasig River and other waterways that all empty out into Manila Bay,” Atienza said.
Atienza said the DENR’s Operational Plan for the Manila Bay Coastal Management Strategy is getting another P1.35 billion in the proposed P4.1-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2020.
The money will be spent to renew and preserve Manila Bay’s coastal and marine ecosystem, according to Atienza.
“We will, of course, continue to support all new spending to revitalize Manila Bay. But Malacañang really has to crack the whip on the two water concessionaires that have been defying the Clean Water Act,” Atienza said.
“Otherwise, all our efforts to fully restore Manila Bay, which still functions like a vast septic tank, will be without real success,” Atienza said.
Last month, the Supreme Court upheld a 2009 DENR order penalizing Manila Water and Maynilad, along with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, with a combined P1.84-billion fine for their failure to put up sewage lines, violating Section 8 of the Clean Water Act.
Atienza issued the 2009 order when he was DENR head.
Until they fully comply with the Clean Water Act, Manila Water, Maynilad and the MWSS will have to continue to pay a P322,102 daily fine that escalates by 10 percent in two years, plus legal interest of six percent per annum, the high court said.
The three parties were supposed to pay the initial fine within 15 days from receipt of the Supreme Court decision that was announced Aug. 6.
