The ABS-CBN Foundation unveiled a marker this month to commemorate the partnership between the foundation and the Philippine government to rehabilitate the Pasig River.
According to the foundation, the marker is meant as a reminder of P30 million that it received from the President’s Social Fund for the Environment in 2010.
The P30 million was used to rehabilitate esteros that go into the Pasig River. Of that amount, P10 million went to dredging and riprapping of Estero de Paco and P15 million went to the rehabilitation of the Paco Market.
Another P5 million went to Bayanijuan in Calauan, Laguna, the official relocation center used by Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig. The site houses more than a thousand who used to live along the river.
“We look forward to when we can really finish this all at talagang sobrang maging maganda na ‘yung Paco Market and the esteros,” the foundation’s managing director Gina Lopez said in a press statement. Lopez is also chair of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.
Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras, who represented the President at the unveiling of the marker, said the money used to rehabilitate the esteros came from the Filipino people.
“We are making sure that taxes are spent on the right things, and the President’s Social Fund that was used for this was put to good use,” he said in Filipino.
Estero de Paco is one of 47 esteros or canals that drain into the Pasig River.
Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission have been cleaning up the esteros with the help of government agencies like the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the National Housing Authority.
Private water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad have also been helping out by installing proper sewerage facilities so waste will not go directly into the esteros and the river.
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Photo: Handout photo, Faizza Tanggol for ABS-CBN Foundation
