After Secretary Roy Cimatu of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources cleaned up Boracay after five months in 2018, President Duterte told him to clean up Manila Bay next. The secretary looked at the problem posed by Manila Bay, so many times bigger than Boracay, and told the President it would take over 10 years to accomplish the task of cleaning up the bay. The pollution in the bay is the result of decades of neglect, starting with the millions of homes built along the streams and rivers that joined the Pasig as it flowed to Manila Bay.

Cleanup of polluted waters of Manila Bay under way. (2021, March 10). Tempo, p. 4.