The River System, its Creeks and Tributaries

1. ROTARY CLUB PARANAQUE – PALANYAGAn Advocacy to Save the Paranaque River System“ CALL FOR ACTION”

2. The River System, its Creeks and Tributaries • The Paranaque River System serves the cities of Manila, Pasay, Makati, Paranaque, Taguig and Las Pinas. • These cities are within the jurisdiction of R.I. District 3830 except for Manila and Pasay. • The Tripa de Galina , an estero created during the Spanish times cuts across the main avenues of southern Manila namely Quirino Avenue ,San Andres ,Vito Cruz running parallel to the Osmena Ave( formerly part of South Luzon Express Way) and continuous on to Pasay City at Buendia Ave ( Sen. Gil Puyat) ,Pasay road or Libertad and EDSA which ends up at the Malibay /Maricaban /Villarmor Delta(MMVD).

3. The MMVD can be seen along the bridge of the Tramo Road beside the Pasay Cemetery. • The creeks on the southeastern part of Makati at the back of the plush villages namely, Magallanes , Dasmarinas and Forbes Park are connected to the creeks coming from Taguig at the Fort Bonifacio, Philippine Navy Golf Course and the Villamor Golf Course cutting across the South Luzon express way passes through Malibay on to the MMVD. • The MMVD all drains into the Paranaque River in Bgy Baclaran through the San Carlos Flood gates beside the LRT 1 depot.

4. There are four outfall draining the waterways in the Metropolis located at Libertad Pasay, Baclaran ,Tambo and the mouth of the Paranaque river at the Coastal Road /Asiaworld. • At the town proper of Paranaque, the main river traverses the Barangay of Baclaran, Tambo, Dongalo, La Huerta, San Dionisio connecting to Manila de Bay at the Coastal Road. • There are several tributaries in Paranaque , South Luzon Expressway drains at the Wella compound near the Merville subdivision . • This creek surrounds the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on to the main river at the town proper.

5. Creeks located on the eastern side of Paranaque from the Bicutan area, Marcelo Green, Fourth Estate, Tahanan Village, BF Homes down to the Villanueva and Gatchalian Village ends at the main river delta of Barangay Sto.Nino/La Huerta/San Dionisio . • The creek along Bgy Manuyo, Las Pinas ends at the Kay Buboy Bridge near SM Mall Sucat.. THUS ,THE PARANAQUE RIVERS SYSTEM IS A MAJOR WATERWAY IN THE CITIES OF MANILA, PASAY, MAKATI, TAGUIG , PARANAQUE AND LAS PINAS, THE PREMIER METROPOLIS OF THE PHILIPPINES.

6. State of the River • The Paranaque River has been official declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as a dying river system. • The quality of water no longer warrants the suitability for marine life. • There are several factors that contributed to the deterioration of the river, the extensive pollution from the solid waste/garbage dumped by the informal settlers living on the river and the formal settler along the river banks.

7. Also, Industrial waste from commercial establishment accounts also for the toxic chemicals found on the samples taken by government agencies and NGO as well. • As of last estimate of the cities planning office, there are more than ten thousand informal settlers living on the river and under the bridges without sanitary facilities. • These settlers make use of the river as their sewer(with or with toilet facilities).

8. Also, since the bigger portion of the metropolis does not have a centralized sewerage system , the poor maintenance of the residential septic vaults produces high coincidence of ecoli in the effluent discharged into the river. • The proliferation of garbage decaying on the river is a serious health concern. • The conservative estimated volume of solid waste thrown into the river everyday is about ten thousand kilos(10,000 kilos) by informal settlers alone or about three thousand six hundred fifty tons(3650 metric tons) a year. • Since the time of EDSA I, no dredging activity has been done on the river.

9. In the passage of time , the river accumulates silt through the natural flow of flood water from the streets and particularly the earth that settles coming from the higher ground particularly the area of southern Paranaque in Sucat which has a differential elevation of forty one meters ( 41 M) compared to the Manila Bay/Paranaque River. • The calculated volume of silt derived from the latest survey of the MMDA engineers considering the twelve kilometer length with a width of about twenty meters may have enormous silt deposit of two meters is estimated at four hundred fifty thousand cubic meters ( 450,000 cu. m) , translated to the number of dump trucks this would be about fifty thousand (50,000) truckloads.

10. Major Concern for the Metropolis a. Health and Sanitation the spread of diseases in an epidemic proportion can and may happen in the near future as the garbage continuously pile up attracting pest and common house flies .The level of the polluted river are expected to rise due to the global warming which will eventualy penetrate the streets and the households(our homes). The same event are now occurring in cities Malabon and Navotas during high tide. b. Flooding and Stagnant Flood Water the clogging of drainage caused by the accumulation of garbage and the heavy siltation of the river can be expected during the rainy season.

11. The CALL FOR ACTION by all the citizens and the Rotarians…… • Massive dredging efforts of the main river and the tributaries by the MMDA, the government agency mandated to clean up the river. • Waste Management by the Local Government with a solution Penal in naturefor person caught dumping waste and garbage into the waterways, no apprehension has been recorded to date to force all citizens to abide by the RA 9003. • Improvement of the areas vacated by the informal settlers , possibly the conversion to parks or playgrounds .

12. Educational campaign to protect the Environment should be a continuing District Thrust, to promote the revival of the river as source of economic and social activities to improve the quality of life. • The magnitude of the social and technical intervention by the Local, Metropolitan and National Government should be proactive in nature and approach instead of a reactive one when a real disaster is at hand as not much can be done. It is the duty of each citizen as a stake holder of this planet to demand real and positive action from government and the authorities in the light of the very serious damage to the environment.

13. What can the Rotarians do? • The Environment Committee of the club shall have a sub committee on Save Paranaque River Advocacy • The club can identify and target a community in a section of the creek togather information prior to any program of action, such as number of settlers ( names , source of livelihood or employment , length of stay, owner or renter, children , school where children are enrolled).For the record, the information gathered should be submitted the Barangay Head for any social intervention needed other than political concerning health and sanitation issues.

14. The club can establish a Solid Waste Management project to stop dumping garbageinto the river. Actual hands on and immersion activities should be done to be effective instead of the usual lip service The city Solid Waste Management Board can help in this activity. • The club can coordinate with the local and national authorities possible relocation areas for the informal settlers . Target at least ten families for relocation each year with the help of Habitat for Humanity or Gawad Kalinga.

15. On the National Level , the Rotarians should have a concerted effort to ask government to institute serious program of action particularly on the dredging and relocation activities . • Lastly, push for a Legislation in Congress for a permanent government agency or office to oversee the continuing development of the Rehabilitation of the Paranaque River System

16. All queries ,information on situationers or comments can be coursed through the SAVE PARANAQUE RIVER FOUNDATION ( email- saveparanaqueriver@yahoo.com) or the Paranaque City official website www.paranaquecity.com to the attention of Office of the Mayor . Prepared by PPChristopher Rodriguez/Rotary Club Paranaque –Palanyag April 27, 2009