An visual inspection of what washes up on Corregidor's beaches and into North Dock will show large amounts of single-use plastic products. Throughout poor areas of Asia, household products such as detergents, hair shampoo, cleansers and the like are marketed in plastic one-use sachets. Where populations live on creeks, sometimes literally, these wastes are flushed to Manila Bay. It should not be a blame game - the manufacturers of these wastes must be forced by legislation to sell these products in bio-degradable plastics. The reality, though, is that these corporations have immense political clout, lobbying power, family ties, and golf partners. You will see that in the challenge to deal with waste plastics pollution, government will look for solutions in every direction except to obligate the very source of these plastics. ARTICLE 4Cabinet men face enquiry on Manila Bay fiasco By Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 16:47:00 08/24/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Monday said President Macapagal-Arroyo wanted to know why six of her Cabinet officials purportedly failed to comply with the Supreme Court order to clean up the Manila Bay.
The matter, which was raised before the high court by an environmental lawyer, would most likely be discussed in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, according to Anthony Golez, deputy presidential spokesperson.
“The Supreme Court has already ruled regarding this matter so we urge all agencies involved to comply with the order,” he said in a media briefing.
“Tomorrow there will be a Cabinet meeting and maybe, this is one of the questions the President will ask of the Cabinet secretaries.”
Lawyer Tony Oposa, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee this year, asked the high tribunal to cite six Cabinet officials in contempt for failing to do their part in the cleanup of Manila Bay.
The officials were Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, and Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
Golez reminded the Cabinet officials of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s “commitment” to the environment. He said this could be gleaned from her effort to devote her Friday schedules to environment-related projects and advocacies.
“We would like to share this commitment to the rest of the government agencies,” he said.
Golez said the Palace would ask each of the concerned government agencies why they failed to help rehabilitate the Manila Bay as ordered by the Supreme Court.
He acknowledged that some agencies, such as the Department of Health, might have not necessarily ignored the ruling but their efforts were unknown to the public.
“We cannot do a hasty generalization on this matter, especially if we have not heard from the agencies or the secretaries involved,” he said.
Oposa said the concerned agencies had been directed to inform the Supreme Court of steps they had taken in compliance with the high tribunal’s order.
“Such defiance by the concerned government agencies is a show of utter disrespect to the honorable court. It is also an act of downright disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order or judgment constituting indirect contempt,” he said in his motion.
ARTICLE 5PALACE EXEC SAYS
‘DILG doing its job in Manila Bay clean-up’ By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 20:18:00 08/24/2009MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Interior and Local Government on Monday said it was doing its job in cleaning up Manila Bay, saying issuances were released early this year to ensure that local governments have been doing their part in the clean-up of the polluted waters.
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Brian Yamsuan said that Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno issued a memorandum last June 2 requiring all Metro Manila mayors, as well as the governors, municipal and city mayors of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan Pampanga and Bataan to “inspect all factories, commercial establishments and private homes along the banks of major river systems, and other minor rivers and waterways that eventually discharge water into the Manila Bay, including lands abutting the bay…”
The inspection, Yamsuan said, was meant “to determine whether they have wastewater treatment facilities or hygienic septic tanks, as prescribed by existing laws, ordinances, and rules and regulations.”
Yamsuan’s statement came after environmental lawyer Tony Oposa asked the Supreme Court to cite in contempt several Cabinet officials including Puno for to comply with a 2008 Supreme Court ruling ordering government agencies to inform the high court of steps taken to rehabilitate Manila Bay.
In the same June memo, Yamsuan said Puno directed concerned local government executives to require non-complying establishments and homes “to set up said facilities or septic tanks within a reasonable time to prevent industrial wastes, sewage water, and human wastes from flowing into these rivers, waterways, esteros and the Manila Bay under pain of closure or imposition of fines and other sanctions.”
On June 10, Yamsuan said that Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS) director Rolando Acosta submitted a draft Manila Bay Action Plan for Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and the Calabarzon region (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon).
Under the Manila Bay Action Plan, local government units have until September to create regional oversight committees (ROCs) and teams of field monitors (TFMs) to conduct inspection and organize dialogues with local executives, community leaders and pro-environment groups, as well as conduct on-site monitoring of actions.
On August 12, said Puno directed DILG officials to draw up a National Database on the number of concerned factories, commercial establishments and private homes “to determine whether they have wastewater treatment facilities or hygienic septic tanks to prevent industrial wastes, sewage water, and human waste from flowing into the rivers, waterways, esteros and the Manila Bay.”
Progress reports of the DILG’s monitoring on the Manila Bay clean-up is regularly being submitted to an inter-agency committee headed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Yamsuan claimed.
“This interagency committee has met several times and it was the DILG’s impression that this panel was the one updating the high court on the progress of the Manila Bay cleanup and rehabilitation efforts by the various government agencies concerned,” Yamsuan added.
Hyacinth is a worldwide pest, not merely a pest for Corregidor. It relies just on the nature of governments and bureaucracies (worldwide) for its survival.
MORE READINGwww.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/theenvironmentreport/view.php?db=1&article=20090824-221785