Schools unite to save key Benguet river

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—A coalition of universities has convinced the governments of Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet, to commit to the cleanup of the Balili River, a major source of water for strawberry and flower farms here.

In a ceremony recently, officials of the University of the Philippines Baguio, University of the Cordilleras, Saint Louis University and Benguet State University signed a memorandum of understanding with La Trinidad Mayor Gregorio Abalos Jr. and representatives of Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan to revive the river.

The latest initiative takes off from efforts made in 1988 and 1998, before Baguio’s population grew to 302,000 and before congestion in riverside communities happened.

The universities are providing local governments all information about the river’s biological and chemical make-up, given the pollution introduced by run-off water discharged daily from the summer capital.

The Balili River passes through 74 of the city’s 128 villages, where 58 percent of Baguio’s population (175,160 people) live, before it reaches La Trinidad and meanders through farms in four villages.

Data from an inspection by Abalos, UP Baguio Chancellor Priscilla Macansantos and UP Baguio Social Sciences Dean Raymundo Rovillos also showed that residents living along the riverbank at the Baguio-La Trinidad border were liable for the pollution of Balili River.

Macansantos said the universities have formed a research coalition to provide policymakers with the science that explains Balili River’s state and to impart technology, biological remedies and behavioral techniques necessary to reverse the river’s deterioration.

“I am sure people are aware [of the poor state of the river], but they see what’s going on and then they turn away,” Macansantos said.

The movement, which the coalition of universities is trying to build, would enable communities, even villages living near the river banks, to take part in the river clean-up and protection.

The studies will be filtered through a data clearing house led by BSU, she said.

Dr. Ricardo Pama, UC president, said the universities have been negotiating with China’s Guangzhou University for a potential funding partnership to keep the coalition running, while local governments work to resuscitate the river.

Pama said Baguio remains key to the rehabilitation because the main sources of pollution are the city market and abattoir.

Baguio has been trying to solve the Balili River problem for years, said Cordelia Lacsamana, city environment officer.

In the early 1990s, the city government secured a Japanese grant to build a sewage treatment plant near the Baguio-La Trinidad boundary.Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon