DENR-7 to deputize 500 river guards to monitor region’s waterways
Volunteers help in the clean-up drive of the Butuanon River on Friday, February 22, 2019. CDN Digital photo | Delta Dyrecka Comendador Letigio
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu, Philippines—The Department of Environment of Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) will deputize 500 river guards to monitor the region’s streams and the waterways and apprehend violators contributing to the pollution of these rivers.
DENR-7 Regional Director Gilbert Gonzales said that these river guards would be deputized to implement the national policies in the caring of the rivers and would be given the authority to apprehend violators such as individuals or residents littering the waterways.
Read more: All sectors urged to cleanup Cebu rivers, other water bodies
“We are authorizing them to apprehend violators in accordance as well with the local ordinance,” said Gonzales.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) Regional Director Gilbert Gonzales.
Gonzales added that DENR-7 would be preparing citation tickets which could be used all over the region to apprehend violators from simple littering to the dumping of untreated waste water into the streams.
He said he was hoping that this move would strengthen the implementation of both local and national policies on the caring of the river systems which had been ‘greatly’ affected by the urbanization of the towns and cities.
Gonzales said that there are 500 rivers and streams in Central Visayas, and most rivers located in urbanized areas such as Metro Cebu are already Type B and C rivers which indicates that these rivers are no longer safe for drinking or bathing.
Read more: EMB-7: Two Cebu City rivers considered as ‘dead’
Two of the rivers in Cebu City, the Lahug River and Bulacao River, were recently considered dead by the Environment Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7).
Gonzales said he was hoping that with the DENR’s Rivers for Life Program spearheaded by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the rivers in the country could heal and rehabilitate after years of ‘suffering’ the effects of progress.
He is encouraging the public to take a ‘bold’ step in protecting the rivers and join the movement to save them. /dbs
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