The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the P389 million used in overlaying “white sand” over a 500-meter portion in Manila Bay’s baywalk area along Roxas Boulevard could have been used for the massive rehabilitation of degraded mangrove areas. Pamalakaya National Chairman Fernando Hicap said that with such money, reforestation of mangroves could have covered at least 13,000 hectares. Citing a 2018 report, Hicap noted that planting mangrove costs at least $607.7 or P28,881.6 per hectare, which means that the fund for Manila Bay’s “artificial rehabilitation” could plant a total of 13,469 hectares of mangrove forests.

Mayuga, J. L. (2020, September 7). DENR should’ve used ₱389M for mangrove forest rehab–Group. Business Mirror, p. A3.