The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has partnered with the Parañaque City local government to fast track the rehabilitation in the southern part of Manila Bay region and the clean-up of its tributaries.

DENR Acting Secretary Jim O. Sampulna said the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has already provided the dredging equipment for the activity that started in April.

“Such partnerships highlight the importance of our partnership with the private sector and local government unit (LGU) in the realization and success of our programs, especially a priority program such as the Manila Bay Rehabilitation,” Sampulna said.

Aside from the three government agenices, the move is also backed by the Aseana City’s business establishments and lot owners.

Aseana City is a 107-hectare business district in a reclaimed area that hosts several establishments, such as the Ayala Malls Manila Bay, City of Dreams, and the Passport Center of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Sampulna said the Aseana City, through ABPEA - the official organization of locators or lot owners in Aseana City - adopted the 1,404-meter stretch of the Redemptorist Water Channel in June 2013 in response to the government’s call for assistance from the private sector to improve the state of waterways across the country.

The artificial channel, which spans barangays Baclaran and Tambo in Parañaque City, was created to ease flooding, particularly in reclaimed areas.

Aside from the dredging, the ABPEA has been working towards having more establishments within its complex join the government’s Adopt-a-Waterbody program to improve water quality in the tributaries of Manila Bay and speed up its rehabilitation.

Under the program, adopters commit to start coordination with other sectors, the community, and other government agencies in conducting cleanup activities and putting up interventions to improve water quality in the adopted water body.

With Aseana City, interventions have included providing boats and setting up steel floaters and biofences as aid in collecting trash trapped in waterways, to complement the cleanups by its environmental and security personnel.

As a result, the DENR observed a significant decrease in annual fecal coliform levels from 716 million in 2017 to 132 million most probable number per 100 milliliters (mpN/100mL) in 2021. It was further down to 54,000 in the first quarter of 2022.

“Cleanup and dredging the Redemptorist Water Channel would not only improve the quality of the water, but also reduce, if not prevent, flooding in the area and in surrounding communities especially when rains come,” said Assistant Secretary Gilbert Gonzales, who supervises the DENR’s Metropolitan Environmental Offices or MEOs.