The Metro Manila Development Authority has collected 750 truckloads of garbage and silt from various creeks and open canals in the metropolis during its waterways and estero cleanup operations since March.
Data from the agency’s Flood Control and Sewerage Management Office showed a total of 757 truckloads or 5,250 cubic meters of garbage and silt from several waterways in Metro Manila were collected from March 1 to May 6 this year.
The cleanup is being undertaken by MMDA personnel under the Estero Blitz program, a yearly flood mitigation project in preparation for the rainy season.
To date, MMDA has cleaned and cleared eight waterways—Estero de Galina in Manila, Makati and Pasay; Libertad retarding pond in Pasay; Estero de San Miguel, Estero de Quiapo, Estero de Magdalena, Estero de Maypajo, and Estero dela Reina, all in Manila; and Lapu-Lapu/spine open canal in Malabon and Navotas. MMDA personnel are scheduled to declog refuse, slit and debris from Letre (P. Aquino) open canal in Malabon City from May 10 up to May 13.
The agency expects to clear the major waterways in Caloocan, Valenzuela, Quezon City, Pasig, Marikina, Taguig, Pateros, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Parañaque in the following months until October.
Among those scheduled for declogging and clearing from June to October will be Pasong Malapad Creek, Lagoon (tributary of Pasong Malapad Creek), Veinte Reales Creek, Waling-waling Creek (tributary creek of San Juan River), Tanque Creek, Villa Verde and Sta. Lucia Creeks, (tributaries of Tullahan River), Pinagkatdan Creek, Sto. Rosario – Silangan River, Maytunas Creek, Ermitano Creek, Estero Tripa de Gallina- Buendia Outfall, Sto. Nino Creek, Dahlig Creek, Pasong Diablo River, and the Coastal Open Canal.
MMDA general manager and acting chairman Thomas Orbos said the Estero Blitz project aims to curb massive flooding in Metro Manila as agency personnel are busy all-year round to make sure that massive flooding will be mitigated during the onset of the rainy season.
“As early as March, we have been working to ensure that the various waterways and esteros as well as sewers in Metro Manila are garbage-free to allow the continuous flow of water during heavy downpour,” Orbos said.
Orbos also reiterated the responsibility of maintaining the waterways lies with the LGUs especially the respective barangays.
The MMDA men cleaned up the creeks armed with heavy equipment, such as cranes, dump trucks and spider backhoe. Some of them had to use small boats or bancas to fish out the floating debris and refuse from the waterways.
The MMDA attributed the clog problem from residents and informal settlers living along and near the creek.
With this regular cleanup, the MMDA expects that floods in low lying areas of Metro Manila would quickly subside after heavy rainfall.
The campaign also aimed to maximize the "conveyance capacity" of open waterways in Metro Manila to enable it to accommodate larger volume of floodwaters during the rainy season, thus hastening the flood receding rate and minimizing flooding.