Press Release
September 9, 2020

Dispatch from Crame No. 907:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on DENR's "Boracayization" of Manila Bay

9/9/20

So DENR is dumping crushed dolomite from Cebu to dump on Manila Bay supposedly so it can look like Boracay, while the rest of the country is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, too stressed, tired, broke, and jobless to even care that the color of the sand on Manila Bay is black.

The DENR is supposed to protect the environment, not to artificially change it by creating a white sand beach where previously there was none. Environmentalists agree that it is not proper practice to replace the naturally occurring sand on a beach with a totally different kind of sand from another beach that is not part of the beach's ecosystem.

For some idiotic inevitability, the DENR has caught the window-dressing bug of this administration and has now decided to become the Department of Environmental Cosmetics. Again, DENR's mandate is rehabilitation, preservation and protection of our environment. It is not a beach resort developer.

Listening to Malacañang try to spin this colossal waste of public funds is both laughable and infuriating. Aside from deflecting public disapproval of spending millions of pesos on band-aid solutions in the middle of increasing hunger and joblessness, proponents of this project have the audacity to claim that this would somehow be beneficial to the mental health of Filipinos.

Anong akala ninyo sa buhangin na iyan - may mahika na sa isang iglap ay kayang punuan ang kumakalam na sikmura ng mga Pilipino, may kapangyarihan na isalba ang nalulunod na mga pangarap at kinabukasan ng bayan? The DOH itself even warned that the crushed dolomite rock may actually cause respiratory problems, among other health issues.

Sa dami-daming nagugutom at naghihirap ito pa talaga ang inuna niyo? Hindi pa nga natin nalalagpasan ang pandemya, dagdag na sakit at peligro pa ang ihahatid ninyo?!

Imbes na solusyong tutugon sa batayang pangangailangan ng taumbayan ngayong panahon ng lunos at pagdurusa, palamuti't pulbura ang siyang inihahain sa atin! Talaga namang napaka iresponsable ng pamunuang ito! Ibinyahe niyo pa mula Cebu, samantalang nabulok na lamang ang mga gulay at prutas sa Baguio at namuti na lang ang mga mata ng mga LSIs sa paghihintay sa inyo!

We put a halt to numerous projects and programs in the 2020 budget so we could fund our COVID-19 response yet they still pursued this endeavor without even a second thought. Millions of pesos down the drain, and worse, most likely attended by corruption, again!

Ano ba talaga ang prayoridad niyo?! Kailan ba kayo matututong makinig sa hinaing ng taumbayan?!

Bigas na isasaing ang kailangan, hindi puting buhangin!

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 907 here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_907)

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