The rehabilitation of the waterways is a continuous effort.
As a country situated along the typhoon belt in the Pacific, the Philippines experiences around 20 typhoons every year. In less than a month this year, it was visited by typhoons Kristine, Leon, Marce, Nika, Ofel and more recently, Pepito. It was in November 2013 when one of the most destructive typhoons to hit the country, “Yolanda”, brought on widespread devastation.
When typhoons and heavy precipitation occur, low-lying areas experience flooding. One cause for the flooding is the heavily silted rivers with their reduced water carrying capacity. The other is denuded forests and watershed. Floods are considered among the most destructive calamities—damaging roads, buildings, telecommunication lines, agricultural crops and livestock, and dwellings; even resulting in loss of lives. Floods also result in the lack of potable water, contaminating water supply, and the outbreak of diseases.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has its Adopt an-Estero/Waterbody Program to clean-up esteros and waterbodies. Primary contributors to the pollution of rivers are untreated household sewage, and industrial and agricultural wastes.
Through the collaborative efforts of the government and private sector, rivers and waterbodies are dredged, desilted and rehabilitated. These water bodies include those that empty into the Manila Bay. There are 17 principal river systems draining to Manila Bay, according to DENR. These are Angat River, Bocaue River, Maria River, Marilao River, Meycauayan, Meycauayan-
Valenzuela River, Pasig River, Parañaque River, Imus River, Ylang-ylang River, Rio Grande,
Cañas River, Obando River, Navotas-Malabon-Tinajeros-a River, and Pampanga River.
San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is an active partner of DENR in its program to clean-up rivers.
Among the beneficiaries of this program are rivers that flow into Manila Bay.
SMC undertakes the river rehabilitation projects at no cost to government. It invested in equipment for dredging and desilting.
Recently, SMC reported that it has removed 8 million tons of river waste from 136 kilometers of
river systems in Luzon as of the end of October 2024 as part of its “Better Rivers Ph” initiative.
It was in 2020 when SMC launched the Tullahan river rehabilitation and flood mitigation project. Tullahan river was then one of the most polluted waterways in Metro Manila. SMC expanded its river clean-up to include the Pasig and San Juan Rivers. The rivers were dredged and cleaned, deepened and widened to improve their capacity and mitigate flooding in nearby areas.
In 2023, SMC began the rehabilitation of rivers in Bulacan where it is building the New Manila International Airport.
The waterways span 74 kilometers that include the Taliptip-Maycapiz-Bambang, Meycauayan, Marilao, Mailad-Sta. Maria, Guiguinto, Balagtas, Pamarawan, Kalero, and Labangan-Angat Rivers.
Aside from Bulacan, SMC has extended efforts to clean waterways to include the Pampanga River that floods the province and areas in Bulacan.
Cleanup efforts have spanned 8.15 km of the river, removing 506,616 tons of silt and waste since August.
According to Macabebe, Pampanga Vice Mayor Vince Flores, SMC is the first private entity to help Macabebe in desilting the river. He added that engineers from the LGU have confirmed that floodwaters now subside more quickly after the desilting undertaken by SMC.
From the Central Luzon provinces, SMC teams are now actively cleaning rivers in the Calabarzon area in Biñan, Laguna; and around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), while also clearing its drainage system.
The rehabilitation of waterways is a continuous effort. Monitoring reports have shown that heavy rains have led to renewed silt build-up and waste accumulation in previously cleared areas.
“River cleanups are a continuous effort. Heavy rains bring eroded soil and improper disposal continue to be a challenge. Maintenance is very important to make sure these rivers continue to flow freely,” SMC Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said.
He added that SMC’s River cleanup teams will soon return to affected areas, including the Tullahan, Pasig, and San Juan Rivers, to address the recurring build-up of silt, waste, and vegetation.
SMC’s river rehabilitation project is not only a flood mitigation measure. It is helping transform the rivers back to vibrant and healthy ecosystems with less stagnant water, reduced foul odor and return of aquatic life.
Many Filipinos suffer from too much rain and flooding. “Too much water during the rainy season and too little water during summer has become our sad fate of yearly cycles of inundation and drought,” former President Fidel V. Ramos once said.
Let us be responsible and help ensure our waterways are free from pollutants. Protecting nature and fighting pollution starts with the citizenry.
The author is president and executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc. He is also a writer and publisher of coffee-table books as well the official biographer of the Ramos family.
