I AM very impressed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as well as the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Tourism joining hands to tackle the rehabilitation of Manila Bay. Right now, the beautiful bay, which is the foreground of our spectacular sunsets and the sea entrance to Manila, where galleons used to sail, people used to swim and fish, and where important historical events began, is an open sewer. Years of neglect, poor governance, ignorance and the vicissitudes of inequality have brought this about. Decades of the former have resulted in the shameful condition that Manila Bay is in today.