DENR insists dolomite white sand not washed out

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources remained firm on its stand that the dolomite white sand in Manila Bay was not washed out but was only covered by natural black sand.

DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning, and International Affairs Jonas Leones reiterated this after news surfaced that he allegedly said that “about 10 percent of the dolomite sand in Manila Bay has been swept to sea by the heavy rains.”

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“There is no truth to the news reports that the dolomite sand has already been washed out to the sea,” he said in a statement.

The DENR official said that the dolomite sand is still intact and was only “washed” in by black sand.

Leones maintained that the washed in dolomite “will not be washed out to the sea because of the geoengineering intervention we put on the project.”

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“Ang two layers niyan ay regular black sand. Ang top layer ay dolomite. Yung water kapag nagkaroon ng malakas na wave, nadadala iyung black sand dun sa dolomite,” Leones said.

DENR insists dolomite white sand not washed out

Leones added that the dolomite white sand project is still under its contractor’s jurisdiction and would be the one to maintain it.
“We stand by our statement that the dolomite sand is not being washed out, rather it is just being washed in.  We assure the public that we will protect the people’s money,” the DENR official said.

Leones said earlier that DENR would put dolomite sand in the water so that white sand would be washed instead of the regular black sand.

“Nakikita natin ‘yong magiging problema. Puwede laging mag-adjust. So later on, lalagyan pa rin namin dolomite ‘yon pati sa tubig na para at least pagka lumakas ‘yong wave, hindi na black sand ang dadalhin ng tubig, white sand na,” he said.

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In September, the DENR and local government started dumping 500 tons of crushed dolomite white sand as part of the Manila Bay rehabilitation project.