"Kagungo", Manila Bay, and Other Phenomenon.

 Manila Bay was once defined as the biggest septic tank in the world. It is not at all surprising that it has turned into a depository of refuse since many waterways and canals in the metropolis are somehow connected with the bay. We just don't have the modern facility to get rid of our waste, that a considerable amount of it ends in our waters. Above all, no Philippine government has initiated an honest to goodness rehabilitation of Manila Bay, the canals and waterways of the Metro.

Fishkills and other environmental mishaps that come should not be taken as a surprise. We should actually be more startled that somehow Manila Bay could still host life.

Filipinos should also be informed of the interesting relation of Manila Bay (seawater) to other bodies of water within the South Luzon area, take for example Pasig River (freshwater).

Fishing in Manila Bay. 1900

There was a time when Manila Bay and the Laguna de Bay was just one big body of water. There were excavations revealing seashells on the coast of the Laguna which suggest this. Volcanic activity, probably that of the once active Mt. Makiling, changed the landscape of Manila all the way down to the Rizal and Laguna areas. The proof of this is the existence of a big canal that connects both bodies of water, non-other than the Pasig River.

Unknown to many, there is this periodic shifting of water flow in the Pasig River. The coastal communities of Pasig, Pateros, and even Marikina call this phenomenon, "Kagungo" -- when murky salt water from Manila Bay enters the Pasig. This usually takes place during the dry and humid months. I once witness a Kagungo in the our barrio with fishes of all sort popping out of the water, alive but stunned that you can literally grab them with your bare hands.

When the rainy season comes a reverse phenomenon happens, the water from Laguna Bay needing exit heads towards the sea, and raise the Pasig. This rainfall happens also to be the needed water to irrigate the vast rice plains of Rizal.(Which does not exist anymore).

A great and prolong torrential downpour usually washes away pollutants of the Laguna and Pasig River. This has become more problematic, bringing inundation to low lying area ps around since the mountain forest of Rizal could not hold the water coming from the high areas -- it has been somehow denuded for decades. These pollutants are usually waste coming from animal farms and factories that surround the bay and the Pasig River. It can reach the waters of Manila Bay.

Now, granting that the government meant it well, to "beautify' a certain area in Manila Bay, still, it can not change the fact that the bay is heavily polluted, biologically dead. The changes that will be achieved perhaps will only be for aesthetics. Soon the onslaught of time and that of nature will wash it away.

But I know of a certain phenomenon that transcends time, reality, and reasons. It will break all rules just so it could stamp its will -- the phenomenon of politics.

Pasig City. September 2020