DENR should heed calls to review dredging activities

ENVIRONMENTAL and fisherfolk's groups have called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), along with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), to intervene in widespread dredging activities in the Manila Bay that the groups say are causing significant environmental damage and destroying fish stocks. Given what is known about the dredging operations, including recent revelations of illegal dredging by some Chinese contractors, the groups' request to the DENR to impose a temporary suspension on dredging work until ongoing projects can be carefully reviewed is not only reasonable, it is an imperative.