Students join drive to save Cebu rivers

Students from tertiary schools in Cebu City gathered for second Cebu River Summit, which also saw the launching of a book detailing the conditions of five Cebu City rivers systems — Buhisan, Bulacao, Butuanon, Guadalupe and Lahug.

Cebu Academic Network (CAN) coordinator Lesly Magalso said the summit was aimed “to conduct proactive dialogue on sharing ideas and resources among the government, private sector, civic organizations and the academe on the sustainability of the river systems in Cebu City.

Eduardo Inting, regional technical director of the Forest Management Services of the DENR-7, presented the master plan of the Central Cebu River Basins Management.

The plan contained proposals to address the the different environmental problems and the issues besetting Cebu’s rivers and watersheds. “The master plan is a tool to come up with a unified action among organizations,” said Inting.

Meanwhile, the CAN River Book 2013 contained research conducted by different member-schools of CAN on the conditions of the Buhisan, Bulacao, Butuanon, Guadalupe and Lahug rivers.

With the theme “Rivers alive! Atong Sapa, Atong Ugma (Our Rivers, Our Future),” the summit held last Saturday at the Cebu International Convention Center was organized by CAN.

Those who joined the summit were students from Cebu Doctors’ University, Cebu Institute of Technology-University, Cebu Normal University, Southwestern University, St. Theresa’s College, University of Cebu, University of San Carlos, University of San Jose- Recoletos, University of Southern Philippines-Foundation, University of the Visayas, Velez College and Talamban National Science. /Christine Estrella, UP MassCom Intern