Saving a river flowing through Bicol’s heart

When the Naga River overflowed at the height of Typhoon “Bebeng’s” fury, 22 of the 27 barangays of Naga City in Camarines Sur were flooded, forcing more than a thousand families to seek shelter and surcease in strategically located evacuation centers in this heartland of Bicol.

Bane or boon, the river has been inextricably intertwined with the history of the ancient city formerly named Ciudad de Nueva Caceres, one of the five original Spanish settlements in the country established in 1586.

Beyond its historicity, the 1.5-kilometer (even stretching up to 15 km at its headwaters, according to a technical paper) Naga River plays a significant economic role, irrigating the fertile upland barangays where vegetables and other cash crops thrive, and nurturing the once expansive rice fields of the lowlands.

It is also the venue of the annual fluvial procession in honor of Bicolandia’s patroness, Our Lady of Peñafrancia. Incidentally, this devotion, which draws almost a million devotees, has been going on for 300 uninterrupted years, its tercentenary having been marked last year.

Despite (or because of) its strategic importance, the Naga River has to contend with siltation, pollution and attendant problems spawned by human transgressions all through the decades. Now, it is a mere shadow of its former self with a water quality barely sustaining aquatic life.

When he was mayor, Jesse Robredo (now interior secretary) implemented the “Save the Naga River” program aimed at reversing the deleterious effects of the unhampered and unregulated use of the waterway.

It proved to be an uphill battle until last year when Naga was selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and the World Bank Institute to represent (along with Quezon City) the Philippines in the five-nation executive program on leadership in local government code named DARE (Decision, Action and REsults).

The program was piloted at National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Team Naga

Team Naga was composed of then incoming Mayor John G. Bongat, City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) chief Wilfredo Prilles Jr., city engineer Leon Palmiano IV, city budget officer Francisco Mendoza and this contributor.

After the 10-day course, the team unveiled the Naga River Revitalization Project. It entailed the crafting of a comprehensive urban infrastructure program, upgrading of riverbanks and establishment of water treatment facilities to address river pollution.

Barely three weeks after their Singapore sojourn, the city council declared the revitalization of the Naga River as a top priority project. The Catholic Church, through Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi himself, expressed unequivocal support for the project.

Bongat ordered the creation of a multisectoral task force headed by the CPDO to oversee the implementation of the project. He decided to take the bull by its horns, so to speak, and address head-on the “squatters problem,” i.e., the informal settlers on the riverbanks.

And he was taken aback by the settlers’ willingness to pull out of the restricted area for as long as they would be given a resettlement site by the city government.

Partnerships with other sectors were forged, a conceptual design contest launched, consultations in the 10 riverine barangays conducted and the “Run for Naga River” series held to further raise public awareness.

Negotiations with the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization and the Cities Development Initiative for Asia are under way to secure technical and financial assistance.

For sure, the project won’t be a walk in the park, though mini-parks and walkways along the riverbanks will form part of the grand design.

All these may augur well for the river that runs through the heart of Bicol. And with some help from Ina (the Bicolano term of endearment for Our Lady of Peñafrancia), it can truly be transformed into the river of life.

The author is the vice mayor of Naga City.