MANILA, Philippines — The Manila Bay Dolomite Beach will be reopened to the public on June 12, in time for the celebration of the country’s 124th Independence Day, acting Environment Secretary Jim Sampulna said yesterday.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) initially scheduled the reopening this month, but deferred it as some pieces of infrastructure in the Baywalk area have yet to be finished.
“The target is to open it before President Duterte’s term ends,” Sampulna said.
Jonas Leonen, DENR undersecretary for policy, planning and international affairs, said the 500-meter beach nourishment project, which was started in 2020, has proven to be stable despite rains and floods.
Leones said the reopening would be held together with the unveiling of the World War II Heritage Cannon in Remedios “to signify that the battle to clean up Manila Bay is not yet over.”
He said the cannon is from Fort Drum Island at the mouth of Manila Bay.
Manila Bay Coordinating Office executive director Jacob Meimban clarified that swimming is not yet allowed at the beach as the water quality is still not within the 100 most probable number per 100 milliliters (MPN/100 mL) standard fecal coliform level.
He expressed optimism that the water quality would improve as one station at the beach is at 920 MPN/100 mL coliform level as of May 13.
Before the start of rehabilitation efforts, water near the Manila Baywalk registered an average coliform level of 5.75 million MPN/100 mL in 2019.