Bicol River Rehabilitation Solution to Perennial Flooding
by: Village Connect
The ceremonial sandbar dredging and bamboo planting along Bicol River on March 23 signaled the massive rehabilitation of the country’s eighth largest waterway, under the Bicol River Restoration Project led by the Task Force Build Back Better (TF BBB).
The TF BBB, chaired by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, was tasked by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to conduct post-disaster rehabilitation and recovery programs in areas struck by four successive destructive cyclones in 2020.
Nestlé, DENR forge partnership for solid waste management
By
| Daily TribuneThe Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and multinational company Nestlé Philippines on Friday announced sealing a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the construction of a Materials Recovery Facility (MCF) that will process recyclable municipal solid waste produced by various communities.
Apart from the establishment of MRF, the DENR and Nestlé will also educate communities on solid waste management with Caloocan City as the experimental city for the said endeavor.
New partnership to boost Caloocan solid waste management
By Catherine Teves | PNA
MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), food giant Nestle Philippines, Inc., and the Caloocan City government are partnering to help boost the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000).
A memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed Friday will promote proper waste segregation, recycling and reuse communities along Tullahan-Tinejeros river system, which discharges into Manila Bay, to reduce the volume of trash for disposal and open up income opportunities from garbage while mitigating pollution there.
Nestlé Philippines, DENR ink deal to build materials recovery facility
ABS-CBN News
MANILA - Nestlé Philippines on Friday signed a deal with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for its commitment to a waste-free future, which includes the building of a materials recovery facility (MRF) in Caloocan City.
The facility will sort, segregate, compost and recycle wastes, in accordance with Republic Act. No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, Nestlé Philippines said in a statement.
Under the Memorandum of Agreement, Nestlé Philippines would sponsor the construction of the facility in Barangay 164 in Caloocan City. A signing was held virtually Friday which was attended by officials of DENR and Nestlé Philippines.
TFBBB assures continuity of long term solutions for Bicol River Rehab
Rehabilitation efforts in the Bicol River are now poised to go full blast with the start of the dredging of one of the ten sandbars constricting the 94-kilometer river which snakes through the provinces of Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Albay.
At the launching of TFBBB’s “Bicol River Restoration Program” held Tuesday in barangay San Roque in Camaligan, Camarines Sur, Department of Environment And Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Rodolfo Garcia bared that the construction of seven flood control projects and the rehabilitation of flood gates and pumping stations along the river system have already been approved by President Duterte.
“To provide long-term protection to the people of this region,” Garcia said, in reference to the four successive destructive typhoons that crossed the Bicol region which “is the reason why we are pursuing the construction of flood control projects , a sustainable dredging program and river bank restoration in the Bicol River.”
Garcia, representing TFBBB chair Roy Cimatu, was joined by TFBBB-Bicol ground commander National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino Escalada, Jr., Camarines Sur Governor Miguel Luis "Migz" Reyes Villafuerte and Camarines Sur, 2nd District Representative Luis Raymund “Lray” Villafuerte Jr.
“Our short-, medium- and long-term plans for these areas are already in place,” Garcia said, referring to the ongoing TFBBB rehabilitation and recovery initiatives that started last February in disaster-affected areas in Cagayan Valley, the Marikina River Basin and Bicol.
According to Engineer Jerry Fano, head of the Project Office of Flood Control Management Cluster of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the drainage capacity of the river has been greatly reduced especially the downstream portion of the river where average river width of 80 meters is now reduced to just 55 meters thus contributing to widespread flooding in outlying areas.
Fano, also representing DPWH Secretary and TFBBB co-chair Mark Villar , noted that they have identified priority 10 sandbars that need to be dredged which have an estimated total volume of 1.63 million cubic meters.
“This dredged material is equivalent to 200 Olympic-size swimming pools,” Fano said, noting an Olympic-size pool measures 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and a minimum of two meters deep.
He likewise said that Lake Bato, from which Bicol River starts, needs to be dredged involving some 9.4 million cubic meters of silt, specifically at the junction of Naporog River and Quinale A River.
Fano noted that despite the smaller amount of rainfall brought by Typhoon Ulysses that hit Bicol in November 11-12 last year, it caused massive flooding in Bicol because of the amount of rains from three previous successive storms that hit almost the same areas within two weeks (typhoons Quinta on October 25-26 and Tonyo on November 8-9) resulting to the super saturation of the catchment area of Bicol River. Super Typhoon Rolly (international name: Goni) with the maximum sustained strength of 195 kph – compared to Typhoon Yolanda with strength of 190 kph - is the strongest typhoon in history to make a landfall (PAGASA).
Citing data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Fano said Bicol bore the brunt of Typhoon Rolly in terms of damages to infrastructure at P12.2 billion or 97 percent of the total P12.9-billion infrastructure damage in Luzon due to the typhoon.
Fano also added the Bicol region accounted for P3.6 billion or 72 percent of the total P5-billion in damages to agriculture in Luzon left by the typhoon. xxxx