Pinoys reject attacks on Manila Bay rehabilitation

IN BROAD terms, we can group the loudmouths and the naysayers incessantly attacking the ongoing rehabilitation of Manila Bay into three: the Reds and the Yellows who are political allies, Big Business who has its own agenda separate from the first two and finally, the “herded crowd” who populate and pollute social media in order to draw attention to themselves and their silly “opinions.”

We really cannot expect anything good to come out from the mouths of the Yellows and the Reds because it is in their nature, as “opposition,” to criticize whatever the government is doing.

For them, the worst thing that can happen is for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay to succeed because not only will this be good political capital for the administration when 2022 arrives but more importantly, it would be a permanent reminder to our people of how previous administrations (read: the Yellows) are grossly incompetent when it comes to the issue of governance.

And who, in his right mind, would want to elect (again) into public office any representative from that reprehensible crowd?

Big Business, for its part, especially those engage in the hotel and casino business that line the Manila Bay periphery, would of course rather see people preoccupied with other matters rather than getting interested in their business operations and then take note of how they not only contribute to our moral degradation due to their casinos and to the pollution of Manila Bay from the filths and wastes of their hotel operations.

Simply put, a public enlightened on the importance of environmental protection is bad for business because they would demand from Big Business to spend more to protect the environment and thus add to their cost of doing business.

This brings us to the third group, the “herded crowd” who believe that they are the “smartest” in the Internet and as such, their “opinion,” especially on how to go about addressing the issue of environment protection must be taken seriously by those in government.

And we say “herded crowd” because if you “analyze” their social media posts, they are just actually parroting the same inane criticisms and negative observations raised by the Yellows and the Reds.

In other words, they “think” they are “smart” when they are not. Or, as Clint Eastwood famously puts it, “You are a legend, in your own mind.”

But here is the thing: Despite their collective effort to demonize and devalue the ongoing effort to rehabilitate Manila Bay, they have failed, miserably.

Why? Because the people have spoken. From the multitude of praise and expression of support that they have posted on social media and other communication platforms, the majority of Filipinos made it known that they not only like, but also support, Manila Bay’s rehabilitation.

And in record number too, they flocked to Manila Bay beginning last Saturday, September 19, 2020, to see and appreciate for themselves its transformation from a sea that represents the worst of the Filipinos into a sea that represents the best in them—the capacity and capability to make positive change when united towards a common, noble goal.

The people have spoken and their will be done.