Dutch advice: Close Manila Bay, build dikes

HAGONOY, Bulacan, Philippines  – Dutch Ambassador Robert Brinks is recommending the closure of Manila Bay and the construction of dikes to save Manila and surrounding provinces from seawater rise brought by climate change.

However, Raphael Lotilla of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas in East Asia said shutting down Manila Bay will have great economic consequences as the bay region contributes about half of the total gross domestic product (GDP).

Speaking to hundreds of participants in the first Inter-LGU Forum on Tidal Flooding in this coastal town on Friday, Brinks cited centuries of experience of the Netherlands in building dikes that prevented their cities and communities from seawater rise.

He presented maps of the Netherlands showing dikes that were built on rivers, lakes and sea gulfs to prevent seawater from invading coastal communities.

Brinks said there is a bigger chance of saving Manila and other communities on the coast of Manila Bay if the bay would be closed.

“If you would close this, you would not have to defend this (against) some sort of a tsunami turn in the next 500 years,” he said while showing the map of Manila Bay and pointing to the rocky island of Corregidor.

But knowing Manila is home to a number of seaports, Brinks added: “You have to find a new place for a harbor.”

He said that if a dam is built from Cavite to Bataan through Corregidor, and water in Manila Bay is pumped out, coastal communities can reclaim lands on the coastline and build industrial sites and airport, similar to what they did in the Netherlands.

For his part, Lotilla said Brinks’ recommendations are notable, but said the Manila Bay region, from Central Luzon to Metro Manila down to Southern Tagalog or Region IV-A, contributes at least 50 percent to the country’s total GDP.

“We have to balance the impacts of intervention on the economy,” he said.