PASIG RIVER EVOLUTION: Death, Rehabilitation and Rebirth of Pasig River

The Pasig River is a river in the Philippines running right through the heart of Manila. It flows from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay through a length of 26 kilometres (16 mi) and an average of 50 metres (160 ft) in width. The average depth of the river in around 4–6 m. The river runs through some of the most populated areas in the Philippines.

Throughout history, the river was used as a major source of transportation, water, food and livelihood for many Manila residents. The river was such an important part of the country that many houses were built alongside its shores. Malacañan Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines, is located alongside the river.

In October 2018, the PRRC won the first Asia Riverprize, in recognition of its efforts to rehabilitate the Pasig River. According to the PRRC, aquatic life has returned to river.

Pollution timeline
After World War II, the rich began to move away from the shores of the Pasig and many factories took their place. During this time, shanty towns filled with squatters were created wherever there was room, including on stilts over the river. This caused the lifeline of many Filipinos to be suffocated. Through the years, the problem got progressively worse. It got to the point, in recent years,[when?] where mounds of garbage float down the river alongside boats and many of the tributaries became filled with garbage until there was no water left.

These makeshift towns and villages do not have basic infrastructure and utilities, like sewage facilities, garbage collection, and running water. This is one of the main reasons that the shanty towns were built along the shores of the Pasig. The people would not need to go far to get fresh water, they could simply put their sewage and garbage in the river as the river would carry it away. They could catch their food and bath in the Pasig. The river became the lifeline for many shanty towns, and it is these villages that were suffocating the river and, in turn, destroying their own livelihoods.

Living in the shanty towns can be a precarious proposition as many were built on stilts above the river, which is prone to flooding during the rainy seasons. Poor construction causes many of the settlements to be extremely weak against the elements. They can be very dangerous during fires as most of them are built from recycled wood.

Rehabilitation and relocation efforts
Rehabilitation efforts began in 2010 with the help of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The Asian Development Bank gave the government of the Philippines a loan of $200 million to implement a 15-year slum upgrade program for Metro Manila which includes the rehabilitation of the Pasig River. This loan is under the conditions that the relocation and livelihoods of the illegal squatters have equal importance as the environmental aspect of the rehabilitation.

The overall objective of the rehabilitation is to improve environmental management particularly with waste-water management and urban renewal. There are even talks about using Laguna de Bay for drinking water to supply the growing population of Metro Manila, on the condition that the river and surrounding waterways are cleaned and kept clean. Plans are being implemented for a dike to be built at the entrance to the Pasig River at Laguna de Bay to keep flood waters out during rainy season to prevent major areas of the city from flooding; this is coming under great controversy as the people living around Laguna de Bay would have to deal with flooding.

DISCLAIMER: ASEAN ANALYTICS does not owned the video. Video credit to Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.

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