Manila Bay rehabilitation resettlement and Pasig riverwalk
- Communities and civil society A fisherfolk organisation: Small fishers' income fell by 80–90% while dredging in Cavite continued. Inquirer
- Government and regulators DENR: Suspended 22 reclamation projects in August 2023 for review of environmental compliance certificate conditions; allowed two to continue in November. ABS-CBN (with PNA)
The Manila Bay rehabilitation programme has moved informal settler families away from the shoreline. A separate privately financed Pasig riverwalk plans temporary container housing for up to 10,000 families.
DILG CALABARZON, August 2025.
Status As of August 2025: 57,134 of 238,747 identified informal families resettled; no completion date found.
- Not stated in the sources reviewed — The Pasig project is privately financed; its beneficiaries are not named in the sources reviewed. Inquirer
- Informal settler families — 57,134 families resettled by August 2025. DILG CALABARZON
- Small fishers — A fisherfolk organisation said their income fell by 80–90%. Inquirer
What happened
The Manila Bay rehabilitation programme, which rests on a Supreme Court decision and is run with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), identified 238,747 informal settler families. By August 2025, DILG CALABARZON reported, 57,134 of them (23.93%) had been resettled; the rate in the National Capital Region was 36.56%. An earlier record from 2019 gave 70,165 of 190,655 families, which rests on a different base.
In January 2024 the Inquirer reported a PHP 18 billion, privately financed Pasig River riverwalk project under which up to 10,000 families would be moved temporarily into container vans, with PHP 1 million per family.
A 2022 study by the Penn Institute for Urban Research found that state-led resettlement at five sites in 2010–2016 coincided more with changes in economic land use than with disaster or planned retreat.
In August 2023 the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) suspended 22 reclamation projects in Manila Bay to review compliance with environmental compliance certificate conditions, and allowed two to continue in November 2023. In November 2023 a fisherfolk organisation said small fishers' income had fallen by 80–90% as dredging in Cavite continued.
- 2019Earlier record: 70,165 of 190,655 informal families reported resettled (different base)
- 2022Penn IUR study: resettlement sites coincide with economic land-use change (2010–2016, five sites)
- 2023DENR suspends 22 Manila Bay reclamation projects (Aug); two allowed to continue (Nov); fisherfolk group reports 80–90% income fall (Nov)
- 2024Pasig riverwalk: PHP 18 billion, up to 10,000 families to container vans (Jan)
- 2025DILG CALABARZON: 57,134 of 238,747 families (23.93%) resettled (Aug)
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Presented the resettlement as part of flood-risk reduction (headline of its August 2025 release).
DILG CALABARZONState-led resettlement at five sites in 2010–2016 coincided more with changes in economic land use than with disaster or planned retreat.
Penn Institute for Urban ResearchSmall fishers' income fell by 80–90% while dredging in Cavite continued.
InquirerSuspended 22 reclamation projects in August 2023 for review of environmental compliance certificate conditions; allowed two to continue in November.
ABS-CBN (with PNA)How it looked
Shown
- "Manila Bay rehabilitation: white beach": 3,500 tonnes of crushed dolomite brought from Cebu.DENR
- Resettlement of informal settler families as flood-risk reduction under the Manila Bay programme.DILG CALABARZON (headline of its August 2025 release) · DILG CALABARZON
Recorded
- 238,747 informal families identified; 57,134 (23.93%) resettled by August 2025; 36.56% in the National Capital Region.
- Pasig riverwalk: PHP 18 billion, privately financed; up to 10,000 families temporarily in container vans; PHP 1 million per family.
- Resettlement decisions at five sites in 2010–2016 coincided more with economic land-use change than with disaster risk.
- Dolomite fill: initial reports gave a cost of PHP 389 million; the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute described it as temporary; no environmental impact assessment was carried out.
- 22 reclamation projects suspended in August 2023; two allowed to continue in November 2023.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- dilg (August 2025): DILG CALABARZON headlined its release as reaffirming its commitment to flood-risk reduction, with 57.1K informal settler families resettled under the programme. · DILG CALABARZON
- denr (August 2023): Suspended 22 Manila Bay reclamation projects to review compliance with environmental compliance certificate conditions. · ABS-CBN (with PNA)
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- Outcome not on recordSupreme Court decision on Manila Bay rehabilitationSupreme Court of the Philippines · Administrative · →
The resettlement programme is described as carried out under a Supreme Court decision on Manila Bay rehabilitation; the sources reviewed give no further detail.
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
- Disputed Has reclamation and dredging in Manila Bay harmed small fishers?
Court
- Unclear Supreme Court decision on Manila Bay rehabilitation: outcome not on record.
Figures
- Insufficient Fisher income fall pct: Claim by a fisherfolk organisation.
Accounts
- Disputed Is resettlement driven by flood-risk reduction?
Record
- None on record The final status of the reclamation projects other than the two allowed to continue in November 2023: no source reviewed gives it.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the abduction of two activists who opposed Manila Bay reclamation in 2023, a Supreme Court finding of elements of enforced disappearance, and EUR 1.5 billion of Dutch export-credit insurance cover for the dredging contractor Boskalis. No source link is held for these.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the Philippine Reclamation Authority was awaiting the restart of the Bacoor (90 ha) and Navotas (30 ha) reclamations in February 2024.
Did the harm stop?
Not on record: resettlement continued in 2025, with 23.93% of identified families resettled.
Who paid?
Informal settler families moved from the shoreline: 57,134 families by August 2025.
Sources
Government and regulators
- DILG reaffirms commitment to flood risk reduction: 57.1K ISFs resettled under MBCRPPDILG CALABARZON · 2025-08
Press and investigations
- All Manila Bay reclamation projects suspended: DENRABS-CBN (with PNA) · 2023-08-10
Researchers
- Rethinking the heavy hand of flood prevention in informal settlementsPenn Institute for Urban Research · 2022-05
Connected cases
- Philippines activists Castro and Tamano disappearance Philippines · 2023–2025
- Supreme Court of the Philippines (Court) — here: Court whose decision underlies the rehabilitation programme; there: Court that granted the writs
- Philippines suspends Manila Bay reclamation works; two expected to resume Philippines · 2023
- Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) (Government) — here: Environment department; suspended reclamation projects; there: Suspended the Manila Bay reclamation works