Rehabilitation of Paco estero underway

MANILA, Philippines - Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Lito Atienza and ABS-CBN Foundation managing director Gina Lopez checked on the Estero de Paco in Manila recently as part of their efforts to rehabilitate the Pasig River and its waterways.

Pointing to the trash-filled Estero de Paco, Atienza declared it as a “shameful condition of an estero that leads to the Pasig River. We really need everybody’s help.”

Atienza and Lopez visited the Paco district to check the latest developments in the Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig (KBPIP), the river rehabilitation project jointly led by the DENR through the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) and the ABS-CBN Foundation.

Since June, the KBPIP has been relocating families living along Estero de Paco to the project’s official resettlement site at the Bayanijuan in Calauan, Laguna. To date, a total of 221 families have been resettled in Calauan and 181 families at the PRRC site in Montalban, Rizal.

Unilever Philippines, whose head office is located by the banks of Pasig River, has been one of the pioneering companies helping rehabilitate the river. The multinational giant has been helping KBPIP by doing clean-ups and providing a sack of rice and hygiene packs for each relocated family.

KBPIP plans to relocate about 1,000 families who live along Estero de Paco by the end of the year. ABS-CBN Foundation and the National Housing Authority signed a memorandum of agreement to co-manage the 107-hectare Calauan site.

Atienza, Lopez, and Unilever Philippines chairman Fernando Fernandez and general manager Chito Macapagal also visited the Paco market, Paco tenement, and the Apacible area.

The Paco market is the focus of a major effort by the KBPIP since a significant portion of the pollution load comes from public markets. The KBPIP plans to put up a materials recovery facility in the market as well as help in its rehabilitation.

Apacible, an area notorious for its high rate of street crimes, has been totally cleared of informal settlers, and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has begun building easements along the river banks.