Calumpit holds environment parade

CALUMPIT, Bulacan – Hundreds of students and employees of the University of Regina Carmeli (URC) in Malolos City staged the annual “Via Crucis sa Ilog” at the Angat River here last Friday to pray and ask for forgiveness for the destruction of the environment.

“We hope that through this activity, we can have collective consciousness of our people on the damage inflicted on mother nature, and bring conversion from our destructive lifestyle to environment,” Sister Niceta Vargas, president of URC, said.

She said that reckless use and misuse of natural resources have led to the fast disappearance of forests and other natural resources, not only in Bulacan, but all over the country.

She said: “We must put our acts together to protect, conserve, and preserve our natural resources, especially the Angat River.”

She added that the preservation and protection of Angat River is important because it serves as a source of drinking water, irrigation, transportation, and home to varieties of marine products, and biodiversity that promote ecological balance.

The 45-kilometer Angat River flows through 11 towns of the province namely, Donya Remedios Trinidad and Norzagaray in the east and Angat, Bustos, San Rafael, Baliuag, Plaridel, Pulilan, Calumpit, Paombong and Hagonoy in the west before its water is drained out to Manila Bay.

Based on a report of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR), the Angat River  is the only living river in the province as those in Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas and Guiguinto rivers have been declared biologically dead.

Another report from the DENR states that a number of open dumpsites in the province are beside the Angat River.

The dumpsites are in the towns of San Rafael, Pulilan, Plaridel, Calumpit, Paombong and Hagonoy.

St. Augustine International Institute of Justice and Peace, a unit under the Barasoain Center for Innovative Education (BarCIE) of the URC, said the Angat River system would not last if the people continue to use it as a sewer. “If local government units do not enact laws prohibiting dumping of solid and hazardous waste in it and if people will remain detached, it will die,” the group said. – Dino Balabo