A typical river found in cities in the Philippines will have one thing in common: makeshift houses perched along its banks built by informal settlers using light materials.
This is the drastic effect of rapid urbanization. As cities and municipalities grow, homeless individuals, or those deprived of the means to build a decent shelter, flock along rivers and waterways. It is a sad sight, knowing that it reflects the ongoing poverty woes of the country, but our government can only do so much to address this perennial issue.
As they along these bodies of water with thin sheets of plywood, lumber and secondhand corrugated metal sheets, their houses soon become obstructions to the normal water flow. This contradicts Presidential Decree No. 1067, or the 45-year-old Philippine Water Code that explicitly provides that banks of rivers are no-build zones.
Article 51 states that within a zone of three meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas and 40 meters in forest areas and along their margins are subject to the easement of public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage.
PD 1067 also states that “no person shall be allowed to stay in this longer than what is necessary” and prohibits them “to build structures of any kind.”
The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), through a Resolution passed in 1996, adopted a uniform “Easement Provision” along the Pasig River System including its tributaries, maintaining a linear park at the minimum setback of 10 meters from the existing shoreline, banks or streams and three meters from existing esteros and canals.
The Resolution supports Metro Manila Council Zoning Ordinance No. 81-01 and the Philippine Water Code.
The MMDA pointed out that Republic Act 7924 mandates them to formulate and implement policies, standards, programs and projects concerning flood control, drainage and sewerage, urban renewal, and environmental enhancement.
“The encroachments on esteros, creeks and rivers by illegally constructed private structures, including squatter shanties along river banks, have continually clogged the waterways of the Pasig River and its tributaries resulting in constant flooding of the streets of Metro Manila,” the agency said in the Resolution.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration assistant weather specialist chief Chris Perez said that severe changes in weather, especially heavy rainfall, have been observed due to changes in normal environmental features due to urbanization.
“Nagiging factor ang pagbabago ng kapaligiran sa kanyang absorption capacity ng tubig ulan,” Perez added, while noting that the once lush and vegetated environment have been replaced by commercial buildings and establishments.
In this way, the effects of a 50mm rainfall a few years back are different compared to the effect of the same volume of rainfall today due to runoff that has reached drainages and waterways faster.
Antipolo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Relly Bernardo resides in one of the cities that was hit by Severe Tropical Storm Enteng. This resulted in seven casualties due to rain-induced landslides.
Bernando is now keen to investigate the river easements in their locality. According to him, these are areas that should not have been occupied by informal settlers.
“Titingnan po natin ang easement. Hindi dapat tinitirhan ang mga yan eh,” he explained.
