ELEVEN years ago, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) commenced a search for the missing esteros which they claimed could have minimized the flooding in the region.
To date, there’s not much that was done to recover the missing esteros that they were able to identify – maybe because most of them have been made part and parcel of titled real properties where buildings and commercial establishments were constructed.
According to MMDA, most esteros are unable to dislodge floodwaters because they have been buried under construction or clogged with garbage.
On record, Metro Manila should have at least 273 esteros, creeks and tributaries based on maps provided by the National Mapping and Research Information Authority (NAMRIA).
Then MMDA chairman (now Senator) Francis Tolentino admitted in a Senate hearing that most of the esteros in the region have literally shrunk in view of the "massive construction" of shanties on the waterway itself, and the significant chunk of garbage being thrown there by the informal settlers.
But while the MMDA – together with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) were able to do some clean-up activities, there isn’t much that was done to compel the wealthy businessmen who own the structures constructed decades ago directly atop the esteros.
Tolentino identified some of the “lost esteros” as Concordia, where a building now stands, and Sunog Apog, upon which a school was built, while roads have also rendered useless parts of Bilibid, Paco, or Sampaloc.
The good news though was that the Estero de Paco was partially recovered in view of the rehabilitation efforts by the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.
There are some esteros pursuant to a republic act or presidential decree decades ago and supposedly distributed to the settlers living beside the esteros. Most of the titles were issued in the 1960s, when the population of Metro Manila was much smaller.
Oh yes, the government at that time never thought that this would be needed 40 years after for flood control and prevention.
However, it’s never too late to make things right – no matter how hard or how long it would take.
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