Estero de Binondo now waste free due to PRRC’s “River Warriors”

Estero de Binondo is now waste-free due to the consistent rehabilitation efforts of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) River Warriors, announced the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

PRRC Executive Director Jose Antonio E. Goitia calls for the support of the community and the local government unit to maintain its garbage-free state, as pictures of the creek were shared on the PRRC’s Facebook page.

A picture of Estero de Binondo overflowing with garbage, from freelance photographer Sidney Snoeck, went viral last February; the polluted state of the creek was met with public outrage. The photo reached Goitia, which prompted him to launch an “emergency operation” of cleaning up the waterway.

Previously implemented clean-up drives

Goitia notes, however, that it was not the first time a clean-up drive was launched for the Estero de Binondo. The PRRC has been cleaning up the creek since 2016, as evidenced by their previous social media posts.

Earlier this year, Bonifacio Aragona Jr., PRRC River Patrol Team Leader, shared that though days have been alloted to clean up the Estero – however, it was not mentioned if it was before or after the viral photo of the polluted creek.

Aragona said that the PRRC were surprised when they again found heaps of trash in the creek, as they have already placed a net, which served as a garbage trap, in the previous clean-up drive to keep it from being polluted. Aragona thinks that someone might have lifted the garbage trap, which led to the re-accumulation of garbage in the waterway.

Last April, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) joined the rehabilitation efforts of the PRRC. They used cranes to clear the trash along the estero, and placing garbage traps to collect waste.

PRRC River Warriors

The PRRC was created by virtue of Executive Order 54, signed by then-President Joseph Estrada, on January 1999. Its mandate is to “ensure that the waterway is rehabilitated to its historically pristine condition conducive to transport, recreation and tourism.”

The commission is composed of different representatives from various government, non-government, and private agencies, with the duty to address sectoral concerns of rehabilitating Pasig River and its many connected waterways.

The PRRC “River Warriors” is a team of volunteers that they formed specifically obligated to safeguard Pasig River and its tributaries from pollution. All of them have been trained by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and are supposed to join community mobilization and clean-up drives for affected waterways that are launched by the PRCC.

via Interaksyon / Jeline Malasig