After Boracay, rehabilitate Laguna de Bay, Manila Bay

LONG before he acted decisively on the “cesspool” that, he said, Boracay’s waters had become, President Duterte had singled out Laguna de Bay as a body of water that demanded immediate government attention and action.

“Itong Laguna Lake,” he said in his very first State of the Nation Address on July 25, 2016, when he was just a few weeks in office, “Wala na ang fishermen. Iyon na lang… one big fish pen to the other. Makita mo sa plane every time I go to Davao.” He went on to vow: “Laguna Lake shall be transformed into a vibrant economic zone showcasing ecotourism by addressing the negative impact of watershed destruction, land conversion, and pollution.”

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) set out to carry out the President’s instructions. A year later, many of the fish pens operated by business establishments had been torn down to give small fishermen a bigger part of the lake in which to fish. The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) said that in the first half of 2017, it had planted 19,000 seedlings in denuded areas around the lake. It presented a 10year Laguna de Bay Region Master Plan in which fishing would be limited to 60 percent of the area, while 40 percent would be reserved for leisure parks and eco-tourism.

Early this week, Malacanang called on the LLDA to look into the possibility of dismantling all the fish pens and fish cages in Laguna de Bay to enable the lake to recover from all these years of commercial abuse, along with the destruction of the surrounding forested areas and the pollution coming from households all around the lake. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque cited former DENR Secretary Lito Atienza’s call for the dismantling of all fish pens to allow the lake’s recovery and rehabilitation.

The President and the DENR were decisive in shutting down Boracay last May as it appeared to have been abused by so many business establishments -- hotels, resorts, and restaurants -- catering to the millions of international tourists descending on the country’s top tourist attraction. Boracay is due to reopen this October, after six months of an all-out drive to stop the pollution, preserve island’s natural attractions, and end violations of so many local ordinances.

The same kind of decisive action should be taken to restore Laguna de Bay to its natural productivity and beauty -- after which, the cleanup, restoration, and rehabilitation process should be extended to its outlet, the Pasig River, and on to the Manila Bay which may have an even worse problem than Laguna de Bay.