Cimatu: Ayala group ‘adopts’ Taguig River, vows to clean it

MANILA, Philippines –Taguig River, which was the subject of a clean-up drive on Saturday, has been officially adopted by the Ayala Corporation as one of the bodies of water it intends to rehabilitate, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said.

“Na-adopt na, meron na kaming memorandum of agreement, hindi ko lang maalala kung kailan pero meron na, officially adopted na,” Cimatu told reporters in an ambush interview after the event in Taguig City.

(It has been adopted. We have a memorandum of agreement on it. It is officially adopted)

Water concessionaire Manila Water, which is part of the Ayala conglomerate, will take charge of the clean-up operations.  Earlier, they conducted the “Toka-toka para sa Taguig River,” a program where Manila Water and local government officials conduct a river cleanup and an information drive.

“The only way for us to clean Taguig river is for us to clean it ourselves.  We, the national government will be able to clean it,” Cimatu said.

“That is I think the intention of Manila Water, to dredge the river, remove all the garbage na naka-embed sa floor.  So ‘yan po ang memorandum of agreement namin between Manila Water and Ayala,” he added.

Aside from that, Cimatu also highlighted the importance of restoring Taguig River and other areas, including Laguna Lake and Manila Bay, saying that plans for the bay’s bay walk construction will be submitted in a few weeks.

Cimatu said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) aims to fulfill their promise of making Manila Bay available for swimming by December.

“Naka-schedule na rin kami, the next one week or two weeks we’ll lay down already the parts for the Manila Bay Baywalk.  Kasi gagawin nating compliant, swimmable by towards the end of the year, that is our own call, our own challenge for ourselves,” the former military chief noted.

READ: DENR: Manila Bay swimmable by December

Cimatu said the three estuaries in Manila which are being used to dump wastewater into Manila Bay will be connected.  This will then place wastewater, although treated, to a portion of the bay far from the swimming area.

“Ile-layout na namin ‘yong pipe na, mag-connect ‘yong tatlong pipe, tatlong estero into one.  ‘Yong nandyan sa may US Embassy, sa may Remedios, at sa may Manila Yacht Club magiging isa na lang ‘yon,” Cimatu explained.

“Kasi noon, ‘pag maliligo ka sa paliguan (ng Manila Bay) dati, doon mismo lumalabas ang drainage eh, coming from Padre Faura yata dumederetso na sa paliguan, hindi ko gusto ‘yon.  So ida-divert ‘yong tubig na hindi na bababa doon.  May malaking tubo sa ilalim ng tubig, itatapon pa rin ‘yon, hundreds of meters ang layo mula sa Yacht Club,” he added.

The Department of Health has warned that Manila Bay is still not swimmable despite efforts to clean it.

LOOK: Manila Bay becomes ‘photogenic’ once again after clean-up drive

READ: Manila Bay not yet safe for swimming – DOH

Although the “Toka-Toka” program has been going on for years, the Taguig River cleanup drive came a few weeks after the Supreme Court ordered Manila Water, another water concessionaire Maynilad and regulating body Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Syste (MWSS) to jointly pay almost P2 billion fines for violating the Clean Water Act.

Under the law, MWSS and the concessionaires are mandated to set up wastewater treatment facilities and to connect sewage lines in all establishments, including households to an available sewerage system until March 2009.  However, this was not fully implemented, with several establishments revealed to be dumping wastewater in Manila Bay through different subsidiaries. /muf

READ: SC imposes almost P2B fine on MWSS, Maynilad, Manila Water

READ: DENR to water firms: Pay P2-B fine, help clean up Manila Bay

READ: SC ruling on water firms a warning vs abuses – Bayan Muna