Cimatu leads MOA signing for Mahiga Creek rehab

This was the state of the Mahiga Creek seen from the Subangdaku Bridge at the boundary of Mandaue City and Cebu City in this September 2019 photo.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the city governments of Cebu and Mandaue, and private groups including the Archdiocese of Cebu, signed a one-year memorandum of agreement on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, for the drafting and implementation of a rehabilitation plan to save the Mahiga Creek.

According to the MOA, the parties involved acknowledge that Mahiga River has reached a “deteriorated condition” in which communities and the government units can no longer address effectively “without help from the non-government sector.”

Under the agreement, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the two local government units (LGUs), the barangays traversed by the river, the Archdiocese of Cebu, and 24 private sector members committed to developing a Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program to reduce the pollution load of the river and its tributaries.

The river traverses through Barangays Apas, Banilad, Mabolo, and Kasambagan in the Cebu City side, and in Barangays Banilad and Subangdaku in Mandaue City.

The signing of the MOA was held in Cebu City along with Cimatu’s visit here to oversee the city’s COVID-19 response efforts.

In the agreement, the LGUs and the barangays concerned are to collaborate with the Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7), an attached bureau of the DENR, in order to establish an integrated solid, healthcare, and household hazardous waste management.

The LGUs are also tasked to ensure the participation of the communities living within the concerned barangays in the activities for the rehabilitation of the river.

The private partners, for their part, will be assisting in providing necessary funds for the installation of trip traps, trash bins, and the procurement of personal protective equipment for the barangay environmental officers or eco aids, and other intervention to improve solid, hazardous and wastewater management, including a surface clean-up within one month from the execution of the MOA.

The private sector members are also tasked in assisting the DENR and EMB in information dissemination efforts, getting community participation, and training community leaders in solid waste management and mobilizing their fellow residents to participate in the rehabilitation program implementation. /bmjo

Read: Mahiga Creek Park: A park made of recyclable materials unveiled