Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, 4th International River Summit chairman, leads the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) creating an International River Ecosystem Network on Nov. 25, 2018 at the Radisson Blu Cebu.
CDN PHOTO/JESSA MAE O. SOTTO
Both local and international leaders agreed to form an International River Ecosystem Network to raise awareness and commitment in saving the rivers.
This after the stakeholders of the fourth International River Summit (IRS) agreed to create a body that would serve as the “basis of coordination for stakeholders and as a global platform for knowledge”.
Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing said they initially wanted to have the network composed of local officials and other local stakeholders, but, with the support of the international community, they decided to open the framework to the international stakeholders as well.
“Instead of our original plan to make it a purely local network. We decided to expand it to make it an international sort of resource of knowledge and information sharing,” said Quisumbing, who is the chairman of the summit as the city government of Mandaue hosted the event this year.
Quisumbing, Vice Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, the chairman of the Central Cebu River Basin Management Council (CCRBMC), and mayors from cities of Iloilo, Marikina and Cagayan de Oro have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the last day of the summit at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Saturday.
According to the MOU, the International River Ecosystem Network is “dedicated to river basin and water concerns and will serve as a platform for the collaboration that will be recognized by all stakeholders”
“This is something that knows no political, knows no legal boundaries which is something that affects all life,” said Quisumbing.
The mayor also released a mandamus that calls for action to the moral obligation in managing their rivers before the about 900 participants of the three-day summit.
“We will be putting all of those together to actionable steps to make sure that this convention will see some tangible results for the future of the Butuanon river,” said Quisumbing in an interview after the event.
The Mandaue City government has been conducting an ongoing river rehabilitation to the pilot area of the Butuanon river.
In fact, Quisumbing said they proposed for a budget of about P90 million next year for the program.
The budget will be used for the slope protection, drainage masterplan and paving the area along the Butuanon river.
“We are hopeful that we will be able to integrate solutions for saving the Butuanon river as well as our flooding, sewage and septage concerns,” he said .