Cenro, DPS clean up Mahiga Creek amid rains
Personnel of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) and the Department of Public Services (DPS) clean up the Mahiga Creek this Saturday morning, August 8, 2020. | Photo Courtesy of PROBE team
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Personnel of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro) and the Department of Public Services (DPS) have cleaned up the Mahiga Creek on Saturday morning following the recent rains.
Engineer Editha Peros, new Cenro head, told CDN Digital, that they began the cleaning of Mahiga Creek downstream around 5 a.m. on Saturday, August 8, 2020, and ended the cleanup before noon.
The DPS is yet to report the total ton of garbage they collected, but Peros said there the bulk of garbage was plastic that had accumulated at the downstream area of the creek since the start of the quarantine period.
Cenro had to assist the city government in providing relief aid to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected residents and their manpower was used as staff of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Read more: Garganera: EOC is working with DOH-7 to harmonize ‘conflicting’ COVID-19 data
However, since the rains began last July 2020, residents of riverside settlements had experienced flooding caused by rivers and creeks in the city.
“Mao na ako na ipapull-out atong mga tawo sa EOC kay kinahanglan na ta manglimpyo balik sa atong mga sapa. Ting ulan na unya nagpsugod na ang baha-baha,” said Peros.
(I asked that the Cenro staff be pulled out because we have to clean up our rivers again. The rainy season is here and the flood is back.)
Peros said two Cenro staff were assigned to clean the Mahiga Creek every day to ensure that creek would not overflow during the rains, but this would just be a temporary solution.
The long term solution involves the community with the help of the Environment Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7) to improve the river.
The city plans to engage 24 non-government organizations and private corporations in the city to help clean the Mahiga Creek and revive it.
The Mahiga Creek is a Type C river which is no longer safe for drinking ang bathing.
Peros said it would be challenging especially Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu himself, said the creek must be cleaned up.
Still, she said the Cenro would continue its campaign to remind the riverside dwellers not to throw their garbage in the river./dbs
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