# data[].attributes.body
Cavite Trend Report 2019. (2020, October 1). Lamudi. https://www.lamudi.com.ph/journal/cavite-trend-report-2019/

Geographical Location of Cavite. (2015). Provincial Government of Cavite. https://cavite.gov.ph/home/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/LGR2015-brief-ecological-profile.pdf

PGC EXECUTIVE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA (ELA). (n.d.). Brief Provincial Profile. http://cavite.gov.ph/home/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1.pdf

Smith, A. (2020, November 23). What effects does water pollution have on human health? Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/water-pollution-and-human-health

Tecson, Z. (2020, August 13). DENR installs trash traps to reduce solid waste in Manila Bay. Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1112144

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Water pollution and not blast fishing caused the recent case of fish kill off Las Piñas and Parañaque in Manila Bay where at least 30 tubs of dead fish were found along the coastline, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said Saturday.

Workers collect thousands of dead fish among rubbish that washed ashore along Manila Bay on Oct. 11. An agriculture department official said the government suspects the fish kill was caused by water pollution. AFP

"We need to find the source of the pollution. Like what we always say, we need to keep our waters clean to preserve marine life," said BFAR Region 4A director Sammy Malvas said. He said water quality tests showed poor levels of dissolved oxygen and elevated levels of ammonia and phosphates that could come from animal waste and domestic sewage. The ammonia in the water supply might have also come from agricultural, domestic and industrial wastes. "These chemicals at high levels may cause detrimental effects which may result in fish kill," the agency said. Based on BFAR, estimates, the fish kill resulted in the loss of an estimated volume of one to two tons of fish. Meanwhile, a legislator from Cavite, one of the provinces around Manila Bay, is seeking a legislative inquiry into the status of the cleanup of the bay that was ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr, chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, filed House Resolution No. 247 directing the natural resources panel to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the status of Manila Bay rehabilitation and the cleanup of water tributaries leading to it, "The continuous pollution of Manila Bay had impacted the health and livelihood of the coastal communities and produced deleterious effects on the marine life and resources in Manila Bay and contingent waters and tributaries leading to the said bay," Barzaga said in his resolution. Barzaga noted the continuing mandamus against issued by the Supreme Court on different government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay, and to restore and maintain its waters to Class B Level that is fit for swimming, skin-diving and other forms of contact recreation. The Department of the Interior and Local Governments was ordered by the high court to direct all local government units in Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan to inspect all factories commercial establishments and private homes along the banks of the major river system in their respective areas of jurisdiction. The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System was ordered to maintain water treatment facilities while the Local Water Utilities Administration, through water districts, was tasked to set up sanitation facilities and ensure the efficient and safe collection treatment and disposal of sewage in the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan "at the earliest possible time."

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publication's right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Water pollution and not blast fishing caused the recent case of fish kill off Las Pias and Paraaque in Manila Bay where at least 30 tubs of dead fish were found along the coastline, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said Saturday

# data[].attributes.body
The majority of wastewater treatment plants were designed to purify wastewater before it was discharged into streams or other receiving waterways, or for reuse.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
MANILA, Philippines - West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) is spending around P350 million for the installation of two modular treatment plants in Cavite that will produce an additional 13 million liters per day (MLD) of potable water to supply the needs of some 50,000 customers in the area.

The treatment plants will use ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis technology to treat water drawn from rivers in Imus, Cavite.

The installation and laying of a discharge pipeline to connect the facilities to Maynilad's existing pipe network in the area is targeted for completion in February next year.

Maynilad aims to install two more treatment plants in Bacoor and Las Piñas in the last quarter of 2021.

The treatment plants will yield another 13-MLD of potable water for distribution to the southern portion of Maynilad's concession area.

Tapping rivers in Cavite as an alternative raw water source is part of Maynilad's initiative to provide a medium-term solution to current water security challenges even as the government works to develop another major dam.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Maynilad to install P350 million Cavite water treatment plants

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. is spending around P350 million for the installation of two modular treatment plants in Cavite that will produce an additional 13 million liters per day of potable water to supply the needs of some 50,000 customers in the area.

# data[].attributes.body
River dredging and clearing operations was intensified in Bacoor City. Trash traps were installed in the area since 2017. From the word itself, these trash traps are carefully positioned in rivers and streams to prevent solid garbage from drifting further downstream while allowing aquatic life such as fish to flow freely (Tecson, 2020).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Digital newsstand featuring 7000+ of the world's most popular newspapers & magazines. Enjoy unlimited reading on up to 5 devices with 7-day free trial.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Manila (CNN Philippines Life) - Jill Tambal, a fisherman from Cavite, speaks with great dismay. "Plastic ang nahuhuli namin, hindi isda at alimasag," he shares.

This is how the fifth episode of "ACTIVATE: The Global Citizen Movement" opens: a few words from a struggling lower-class worker that weigh as much as the plastic waste they are able to gather everyday.

Plastic pollution has long poisoned Philippine waters, including the newly-revived Manila Bay, Pasig River, and the rehabilitated Boracay Island. Today, it poses a threat to local, small-scale fisherfolk, negatively affecting their livelihood. While we see our very own fisherfolk suffer the consequences, we also come to understand that we ourselves have taken part in the global plastic waste.

"ACTIVATE: The Global Citizen Movement" is a six-part documentary series by National Geographic and Procter & Gamble (P&G). It focuses on the Philippines and our alarming plastic pollution problem, citing the country as one of the top three countries contributing to the global ocean plastic waste, next to Indonesia and China.

Titled as "Ending Plastic Pollution," the episode shows "the critical role of multi-sectoral collaboration" in coming up with a solution to the nationwide solid waste problem, in such a way that every sector and citizen would actively participate. International organization Global Citizen worked with actor Darren Criss in bringing its campaign to the Philippines to collaborate with grassroots activists to urge three local government units in Metro Manila to become zero-waste cities by 2030. Singer Pharell Williams also partnered with the organization in starting the first petition to hold corporations accountable and push for actual corporate responsibility in regard to their contribution to the global plastic waste.

Featured experts also shared the statistics and research surrounding the issue. A study by the Ella McArthur Foundation reveals that, by 2050, plastic will outweigh the fish found in our oceans globally. World Wildlife Fund director Erin Simon shares that an estimate of at least one dump truck of plastic waste enters the oceans per minute, resulting in 8 million tons of plastic in just one year.

United Nations General Assembly president Maria Fernanda Espinosa notes that 60 million people depend on small-scale fisheries around the world, with 90 percent of them living in developing countries such as the Philippines.

"It is up to the local governments to manage the waste, but those communities might already be in poverty and they might not have enough funding to pay for that. They may be focusing on putting roofs over their head or food on the table, and so that makes it really complicated when you ask them to prioritize waste," says Simon.

P&G and other well-known multinational companies will likely keep their top ranks as biggest plastic polluters so long as they "continue to churn out single-use plastic to package their products."

This is especially true for the Philippines, as middle- and lower-class citizens are drawn to patronize products offered in small-use packages, or tingi-tingi, since these are what most Filipinos can afford. Proper waste management cannot be easily and effectively implemented due to this continuous usage of single-use plastics, since it would be insensitive at best for local government units to simply ban such products to avoid consumption.

While our citizens and local government units play crucial roles in resolving the plastic waste crisis, at the forefront of this problem are consumer goods companies that produce single-use plastic packaging. Global brand audits conducted by independent organizations prove this to be true.

P&G, which co-presented the documentary, ranks as one of the top polluters worldwide, according to the first volume of the Global Brand Audit Report released by the Break Free From Plastic movement. Whether the "ACTIVATE: The Global Citizen Movement" documentary series is a form of damage control or a public record of the company's commitment to become environmentally conscious is up for debate, but Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaigner Abigail Aguilar thinks the project is not enough for the company to redeem itself.

In an interview with CNN Philippines Life, Aguilar commends the documentary series for "going [in] the right direction" in handling the problem through a multi-sectoral approach. Despite these efforts, Aguilar says that suggested and undertaken solutions from P&G and other fast-moving goods companies remain "short-sighted" and "not ambitious enough".

Aguilar cites P&G's Ambition 2030 sustainability goals, a commitment to "reduce global use of virgin petroleum plastic in its packaging by 50 percent by 2030" and refers to it as "obviously not the kind of innovation the world needs to truly tackle this global crisis."

P&G plans to achieve these goals through means of "lightweighting, increasing their use of recycled plastic, driving conversion to more concentrated product forms, and when it makes sense, using alternative materials." With these steps taken, the use of "over 300,000 tons of virgin plastic" is expected to be avoided.

According to Aguilar, recycling alone cannot solve the current scale of the plastic problem. "Recyclable does not mean it will be recycled. We know only nine percent of the plastic produced has been recycled since 1950 while corporations continue to increase their plastic production. [Companies] need to commit to reducing the production of single-use plastic and invest in alternative delivery systems such as reuse and refill."

She also explains that lightweighting will not be an effective solution. "What we need first and foremost is reduction," she explains.

Regardless of alterations in plastic packaging, and even a global campaign such as "ACTIVATE: The Global Citizen Movement," Aguilar says that P&G and other well-known multinational companies will likely keep their top ranks as biggest plastic polluters so long as they "continue to churn out single-use plastic to package their products."

***
Watch the documentary here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Plastic ang nahuhuli namin, hindi isda at alimasag'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Manila (CNN Philippines Life) - Jill Tambal, a fisherman from Cavite, speaks with great dismay. "Plastic ang nahuhuli namin, hindi isda at alimasag," he shares. This is how the fifth episode of "ACTIVATE: The Global Citizen Movement" opens: a few words from a struggling lower-class worker that weigh as much as the plastic waste they are able to gather everyday.

# data[].attributes.body
This is the current situation of the bodies of water in Cavite.

# data[].attributes.body
Cavite is located on the Luzon Peninsula, which is the Philippines' largest island. Cavite is part of Region IV-A, or the CALABARZON Region, and is located in the southern part of the Philippines.

It is bordered on the south by Batangas, on the east by Laguna, on the west by Rizal, on the north by Metro Manila and Manila Bay, and on the west by the West Philippine Sea. The Province benefits from its proximity to Metro Manila in terms of economic development.

# data[].attributes.body
The name of the province comes from the Tagalog word kawit, which means "hook" and relates to the peninsula's shape. This location served as a port for Spanish ships, especially galleons from Mexico.

Cavite was established as a political and military province in 1614.

During the Philippine Revolution of 1896, Cavite was a focal point for military actions. In Cavite City, the Spaniards murdered 13 Filipino insurgents that year; the provincial capital is now known as "Trece Martires City."

# data[].attributes.body
Cavite is located on the Philippines' largest island, Luzon. It covers 1,526.28 square kilometers (589.30 square miles) of territory. According to the 2020 Census, it had a population of 4,344,829. This amounted to 26.83 percent of the CALABARZON region's total population, 6.99 percent of the Luzon island group's overall population, and 3.98 percent of the Philippines' total population. According to these numbers, the population density is 2,847 people per square kilometer, or 7,373 people per square mile.

# data[].attributes.body
Cavite's economy and trade are booming. It is reliant on the rich agricultural of its terrain in part. According to the most recent statistics issued by the local administration, the total land area used for crop production in 2018 was roughly 54,167 hectares, accounting for 91 percent of overall agricultural space. Food crops filled 12,900 hectares of that land, resulting in 97,350 metric tons of production, with rice accounting for 42,381 metric tons. Vegetables accounted for 28,969 metric tons, root crops for 20,0634, and corn for 5,936. Magallanes is the leading crop producer, contributing 136,198 metric tons to the global food supply.