New DENR chief cites Iloilo LGU environment program as model for rest of PH

New Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu marvels at the effort put in to transform Iloilo River into what Cimatu says is the cleanest river in the country he’s ever seen. —NESTOR P. BURGOS

ILOILO CITY—The project that turned Iloilo River into what Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said was the cleanest he had seen could become a model for saving river systems nationwide from degradation, according to the former general.

“I have not seen a river as clean as Iloilo River,” Cimatu told reporters here after a visit to the Iloilo River esplanade with Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog last week.

The provincial government’s continuing tree-planting program is also worth emulating, said Cimatu, who took over the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) following the controversial rejection by the Commission on Appointments of environmentalist Gina Lopez as DENR chief.

Preservation lessons

Cimatu said environmental protection programs being carried out by local government units—city and provincial governments—and the DENR regional office had impressed him.

Lessons from the Iloilo River preservation program could help in programs to save other major rivers and bodies of water in the country like Pasig River, Laguna Lake and Manila Bay, said Cimatu, a former Armed Forces chief.

The Iloilo River Development Council, composed of government and private sector representatives, is a model of how programs to save river systems could be sustained, he said.

The 15-kilometer-long Iloilo River is the city’s main tributary passing along 35 of the city’s 180 villages. At least 53,000 people live along its banks.

The river also serves as a source of livelihood for fishermen and as a habitat and nursery of fish species. It is home to 22 of the country’s 35 mangrove species.

Historians had cited the key role the river played in commerce and shipping in precolonial times.

The river quality, however, declined in the past as a result of illegal structures and reclamation work, congestion at the Iloilo Wharf at the mouth of the river, excessive fishing and pollution.

Esplanade

The campaign to save it led to relentless dredging and cleanup works, transforming the river into a major tourist attraction.

A key part of the cleanup project, the Iloilo River esplanade, has become a prime recreational area where city residents jog, dine in open-air restaurants or watch river water sports. The esplanade stretches 1.1 km on both sides of the river.

The Department of Public Works and Highways would extend the esplanade to three kilometers on each side in a project worth P230 million.

Before proceeding to Antique, the home province of his wife Fe Aguillon-Cimatu, the environment chief also said he was looking for a mining company that he could use as a model of responsible mining in the country.