In celebration of World Environment Day last Saturday, a medical doctor and environmentalist urged the development of the Laguna Lake area into a lakeshore park to end the flooding woes in the metropolis, saving the government billions of pesos in flood control expenditures and aiding in the environmental improvement while leaving a lasting legacy to the Filipinos.

Dr. Benedicto Dorado said in a news forum held at Sulo Hotel in Quezon City that Filipinos can build the longest lakeshore park in the world by dredging the silt beneath the 90,000-hectare Laguna Lake and using it to form a giant ring dike that will act as a breakwater while increasing the reclaimed land on the 220-kilometer existing shoreline.

He said this should be done alongside other measures such as reforestation, proper solid waste management and clearing of all waterways and esteros of all forms of blockages so that rain waters will not flood the metropolis and instead run its natural course towards Manila Bay.

Based on a simple yet scientific study he researched and patented under the Philippine Copyright Law, Dorado said if it materializes, the lake’s ecological balance will not be disrupted as the lake’s rehabilitation will continue to be a major source of “precious aquatic resources” as it will form the foundation of mega-coastal city like the reclaimed land along Roxas Boulevard “on a much bigger scale but at a fraction of the cost.”

Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) consultant and geologist Ric Javellosa attested in an official statement that Dr. Dorado’s “idea of building giant dikes from the silt that will be collected from the lakebed will not require huge investments or sophisticated equipment.

He said maintaining the lakeshore park once built will require minimal expenses but “its beneficial gains in terms of increased revenues and improved quality of life will reverberate throughout the cities and municipalities surrounding the lake.’’

Meanwhile, environmental lawyer Atty. Antonio Padilla said if Dorado’s study is implemented, it “will be a testament to the ingenuity of the Filipino people to turn a malady into a miracle of beauty and progress” as the area’s transformation into a  mega-coastal development area may improve the people’s living conditions there as well as preserving the natural habitat of the species endemic to the Laguna Lake.