When the rains come, Manila drowns. Streets turn into rivers, homes into islands. Ordinary Filipinos know this pain too well. Now imagine adding concrete walls across the bay, choking its natural flow. That’s what reclamation threatens to do.
Church leaders, fisherfolk, and civic groups are right: this is not just about land. It’s about life, livelihood, and legacy. Manila Bay is more than a postcard sunset—it’s a shield against floods, a pantry for fishermen, and a heritage site for generations.
So why push reclamation? Developers promise jobs, malls, and shiny business districts. Government agencies say it’s “progress.” But progress that sinks our cities and erases our culture is no progress at all.
This is where governance is tested. Will President Marcos Jr. stand with science, faith, and the people—or with short-term profit? Will government prove it can protect Filipinos from climate disasters, or will it gamble with our future?
Reclamation is not just an engineering project. It is a moral choice. To ban it is to say: we value people over profit, resilience over vanity, heritage over concrete.
Ordinary Filipinos don’t need technical jargon. We need leaders who can look us in the eye and say: Your homes will be safe. Your children will inherit a bay that still breathes.
The Manila Bay reclamation debate is more than a policy issue. It is a mirror of governance. And in that mirror, we will see whether our leaders truly serve the people—or merely serve the powerful.
