Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has teamed up with a real estate company in turning a former slum area along Estero Dela Reina to a clean, well-manicured greenery park.
Estrada conveyed his gratitude to Filinvest Land Inc., saying the project has opened “a new chapter in environmental awareness, community spirit, and responsible stewardship of the city’s natural resources.”
“With the able and enthusiastic support of our friends from Filinvest Land, the once badly misused and abused Estero Dela Reina is reborn,” Estrada said during the inauguration of the Estero Dela Reina Linear Park.
While the city government has been actively involved in cleaning up esteros and other waterways in Manila to prevent flooding, Estrada said the active participation of the private sector is invaluable.
“We are now in a position to turn these esteros into centers of community involvement,” he said.
Estrada also said the linear park initiative is consistent with his urban renewal program that aims to bring back Manila’s old glory and beauty.
Located in Binondo, the polluted Estero Dela Reina was once home to hundreds of informal settler families. The 0.61-kilometer estuary is one of the major tributaries of Pasig River.
The site now features a 198.88-square meter park with a manicured greenery and paved pathway along the estero’s banks. It extends from the Moriones Bridge to P. Herrera Street and uses solar-powered street lights.
The affected ISFs, meanwhile, were transferred to government relocation sites in Norzaragay, Bulacan and Montalban, Rizal and given P18,000 each.
The linear park is the first ever environmental conservation project of FLI in the City of Manila, according to Michael Gotianun, vice president of Filinvest Development Corp.
“Like in all of our developments, we want to create a livable space for our customers but here in this case, it’s also for the City of Manila. We want to help in every way in helping in the nation-building and this is one of our small contributions,” Gotianun said.
Aside from the City of Manila and FLI, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau, Metro Manila Development Authority, Laguna Lake Development Authority, and the Department of Public Works and Highways also took part in the project.
Estrada has been in the forefront of efforts to revive the polluted Pasig River and its tributaries. When he was President, he signed Executive Order No. 54 in 1999 creating the PRRC, which is now in charge of the river’s rehabilitation.
Since 2013 when he was elected mayor of Manila, Estrada has also relocated 7,403 ISFs from esteros and other danger zones, 500 of them in city-managed properties in Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna.
In Manila, ISFs are concentrated in 107 barangays that are traversed by big waterways such as Pasig River, San Juan River, Estero de Maypajo, and Estero de Sunog Apog.
