The Regional Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and local environment officials questioned the existence of the source of a Rappler. com report calling Mati City’s Pujada Bay as a “virtual cesspool”.
The Rappler story published on June 28, 2022 and written by former Provincial Information Office staff Ferdinand Zuasola claimed that “a Philippine Environmental Management Bureau (PEMB) study showed that the fecal coliform contamination of Pujada Bay has already reached more than 2,000 parts per million which is way beyond the tolerable level of 200 ppm.”
Local officials of the Provincial ENR Office and the Mati City ENRO likewise debunked the report.
Doris Valdesco, Davao Oriental PENRO head, said that fecal coliform contamination is normal in all coastal areas where humans are also known to co-habit. She said that though she could not verify the veracity of the so-called PEMB study cited by the Rappler story.
Valdesco claims there is no PEMB office in the government.
“What we have at the DENR is only the Environmental Management Bureau or the EMB,” Valdesco said whose statement was concurred upon by DENR 11 Regional Executive Director Bagani Fidel Evasco.
RED Evasco also said that water sampling is specific only to the area where the water sample was taken and does not necessarily reflect the situation in the entire Pujada Bay.
“Kapag sinabing may fecal coliform sa isang area, specific lng yan sa kung saang water sampling stations nakuha ang water sample. If sa isang sampling station may fecal coliform, hindi ibig sabihin na sa buong area ganun din,” Mati CiENRO assistant department head Jovelyn Lugo quoted Evasco as saying.
The City of Mati LGU requested and is now still waiting for an official copy of the result of the latest water sampling undertaken by DENR-EMB in Pujada Bay to verify the Rappler report.
Regardless of the water sampling result, Valdesco and Lugo said that what is important is that the local government units along with the DENR are implementing mitigating measures to minimize if not prevent contamination in the bay.
According to them, both the province and city LGUs have long instituted measures like continuous mangrove rehabilitation in areas surrounding Pujada Bay; rehabilitation and retrofitting of the sanitary landfill; improvement of garbage collection service; continuing information, education, campaign (IEC) on proper waste disposal; recent creation of IEC Team of the City Integrated Ecological Solid Waste Management Board; bamboo riverbank stabilization program; water and sanitation hygiene (WASH) projects like clustered sewerage system with centralized water treatment facilities in in Magsaysay, Poblacion, Madang Public Market, and Dahican: relocation of coastal residents in Magapo and Calagundian affected by government projects as well as the Magsaysay relocation and overall urban renewal project; as well as updating of Integrated Coastal Resource Management Plan.
For its continuing projects aimed at protecting Pujada Bay, the City of Mati LGU was recently recognized by the DENR for its outstanding practices on solid waste management and its IEC strategies.
The environment officials rued how the story was spinned to put the government in a bad light considering that Pujada Bay, along with Mayo and Balete Bays, were declared as one of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World by a European-based organization.
City of Mati Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat urged all Matinians to continue protecting the environment especially so that the city is considered as one of the prime tourist destinations in the region. (CIO MATI)
