CEBU, Philippines - Talisay City is set to turn the Mananga River in barangay Tabunok into a public park.
“I’ll be requesting my fellow councilors to provide at least one job order each to compose the Task Force Mananga, which would be tasked to maintain the proposed public park,” city Councilor Bernard Odilao Jr. said during the “Pakighimamat,” a gathering to get to know the new set of council members at the office of Vice Mayor Alan Bucao.
Odilao was referring to the maximum number of contractual workers, which is 20, each administration councilor can recommend to city hall for employment.
Odilao said a task force “should be formed” to ensure that the park, once established, would be maintained, otherwise, it would just be like a dumping site as it would appear at present.
The third-term councilor, who chaired the council committee on Environment, said at least once a month they clean up the river, but without people to guard it.
It only takes days to again pollute the river with waste thrown by people living nearby.
Looking back, the river near the Mananga Bridge used to be where the children of the families of sitio Mananga would take a dip almost everyday, but with the waste covering the water’s surface, it has now become an ugly sight that even dogs would hesitate to swim in it.
Odilao said the city will also “educate” the people in the area on proper waste disposal.
From the bridge, heaps of all kinds of rubbish can be seen at the river’s riprap on both sides, obviously coming from the shanties erected right at the structure itself.
The councilor added that he already met with the chiefs of the offices of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the city agriculture for this purpose.
Last election, this ugly site was one of the highlights of the opposition camp’s audio video presentation contradicting Mayor Socrates Fernandez’s claim that Talisay has clean water. —THE FREEMAN