Conclusion
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources-River Basin Control Office (Denr-Rbco) is currently developing an integrated master plan for 17 of the 18 major river basins and three principal river basins to rationalize and integrate all its plans, programs and projects.
The master plan aims to address various concerns related to watershed conservation, river-basin rehabilitation, and flood control and mitigation. Other concerns included water security for domestic, irrigation and industrial use, livelihood and economic opportunities within the river basin.
Started in 2012, the development of the master plans has so far been completed for the following: Abra River, Cordillera Autonomous Region; Apayao-Abulug, Cagayan; Buayan-Malungon, Sarangani; Ilog-Hilabangan, Negros Occidental; Jalaur, Panay; and Ranao-Agus, Lanao.
A master plan has also been completed for the Tagoloan River, Misamis Oriental, the 13th-largest river system in the Philippines in terms of watershed size, as classified by the National Water Resources Board. Other rivers with completed master plans include the Tagum-Libuganon, Davao del Norte; Iloilo-Batiano, Iloilo; and the Marikina River.
According to Denr-Rbco Deputy Executive Director Donna M. Gordove, the government is hoping to complete the master plan for the Agno River, Pampanga River and the Agusan River. While apathy of stakeholders led to the current “sorry state” of many rivers, poor enforcement of environmental laws both by the national and local governments aggravated the situation.
The National Solid Waste Management Commission estimates that more than 20 percent of Metro Manila’s 9,000 tons of waste, or around 1,800 tons find their way in creeks, canals, esteros and rivers passing through the National Capital Region.
“In some areas, like in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao, uncollected waste that goes into the river is more severe,” said Ely Ildelfonso, executive director of the NSWMC Secretariat.
Protecting sources
ON January 18 Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez made a policy pronouncement vowing to intensify the campaign against the indiscriminate dumping of garbage and operation of open dumps, and even sanitary landfills, to water bodies.
Lopez had ordered Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to shut down their respective city’s sanitary landfills.
The Payatas Sanitary Landfill is near the La Mesa Watershed, where water from Angat and Ipo dams are processed before distribution.
The Inayawan Sanitary Landfill in Cebu City, meanwhile, is on a reclamation area.
Underscoring the importance of protecting the country’s watersheds, Lopez said she will sign an order to close not only open dumps, but sanitary landfills situated near water bodies.
Environment Undersecretary Arturo Valdez said a lot of open dumps and sanitary landfills are near river banks, threatening to contaminate the country’s freshwater supply.
Destructive human activities, Lopez said, compromise water sources, which she vowed “will not happen under my watch”. She also vowed to ban all development projects near watersheds that she said are “destructive”.
The Denr said there are ongoing programs that aim to rehabilitate the country’s open, degraded and denuded forests, including critical watersheds. These programs include the National Greening Program (NGP) of 2010 to 2016 and the Expanded-NGP 2017-2028.
The Denr-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) implements public-private partnership projects in its effort to rehabilitate and protect the country’s rivers through the Adopt-an-Estero Program.
So far, the DENR-EMB has listed a total of 480 esteros adopted, and had signed a total of 640 memorandum of agreements with its private-sector partners.
The DENR-EMB also monitors water quality and puts under strict management regimes specific water bodies declared as water quality management areas (WQMAs).
Republic Act 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, mandates the DENR to designate certain areas as WQMAs using appropriate physiographic units, such as watershed, river basins or water resources regions, to effectively enforce its provisions and improve the water quality of water bodies.
“Keeping our river basins clean is important,” DENR-EMB Acting Director Jacqueline Caancan said. “That is why the DENR has adopted the ridge-to-reef approach in protecting our rivers.”
The declaration of water bodies as WQMAs puts identified water body under strict management regime and under the control of a governing board to better protect them against pollution and other threats.
“Under the WQMA system, the water body is placed under the control of a governing board that involves various stakeholders, including LGUs,” Caancan said.
The governing board serves as
a planning, monitoring and coordinating body. It also reviews the WQMA action plan prepared by the EMB. So far, the DENR had declared a total of 31 water bodies as WQMAs.
Problem of consciousness
LOPEZ said the problem besetting the country’s rivers is a problem of consciousness, which directly translates into structural defects.
“Rivers are not seen as a conduit of life—to be revered and protected. In Manila, for example, structurally, sewerage is dumped into our esteros and the Pasig River,” she said. “It’s a structural problem that emanates from a consciousness problem.”
According to Lopez, rivers have the potential to bring life, to be functional means of transportation, “to bring joy and beauty and economic well-being to forge unity and harmony in our societies”.
“It is much harder to fix a problem once there are structures that strengthen this consciousness malaise,” Lopez said. “What results is disease, and the blocking of the economic potential of the city.”
According to Lopez, the solution to this problem is political will and people working together.
“There must be a shift in consciousness, and this can happen if the leaders make this happen,” she said. A mix of the leaders making decisions and getting citizens of the place to partake will heighten consciousness about the importance of rivers. “But, definitely, money has to be spent and rules and regulations imposed strictly to enforce the right consciousness. Structural defects have to be fixed, because they aggravate the problem,” she said.
Stakeholders’ roles
THE DENR, which is implementing the Expanded-NGP, is eyeing to enhance partnership with communities to promote agro-forestry and ecotourism in NGP areas.
Lopez wants NGP partners to benefit from activities that are “environmentally sound,” such as rehabilitating open, degraded and denuded forests, including watersheds riverbanks and turn NGP areas into income-generating ecotourism area, similar to the La Mesa Ecopark. The park, Lopez claims, is now earning P30 million a year from ecotourism.
According to her, for the Philippines to achieve the status of a first-world economy, everybody has to play a role.
“LGUs have to be superstrict with rules. Businesses should not be allowed to pollute waterways,” she said. “The private sector should not pollute the ways, and the communities need to inculcate discipline in not polluting the waterways.”
In the end, she said, reverence for the country’s rivers will help jack up the economy.
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