Lawyers heighten pressure on city gov’t to save Iloilo River
AROUND 200 drainage pipes are spewing wastes into the Iloilo River, according to a group of lawyers pushing for the enforcement of environmental laws in Iloilo City.
Atty. Norberto Posecion said their recent survey of the Iloilo River showed that more or less 200 pieces of 600-millimeter pipes are jutting out of the river and discharge liquid wastes.
Posecion said their survey covered the areas of Muelle Loney in Iloilo City proper to Carpenters Bridge in Mandurriao-Molo districts.
“It is possible that there are more pipes down there which will only be visible during low tide. And we believe that these drainage pipes disgorge pollutants into the river,” Posecion said.
Posecion, along with members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Iloilo headed by Atty. Marven Daquilanea, is leading the legal offensive to implement ecological laws in Iloilo City.
The Iloilo River survey was conducted in preparation for the filing of mandamus case against the Iloilo City government.
The mandamus suit seeks to force City Hall to clear the Iloilo River of obstructions and all types of pollution.
Posecion said they have to force the city government to clean the river as the problem has been there for a long time already.
“When do we act? When the river is already dead?” he added.
The Iloilo City government had said that untreated waste from no less than 100 of the 180 barangays of the city is being discharged into the river.
A recent study by the University of the Philippines-Visayas showed that the Iloilo River has been experiencing low dissolved oxygen. Dissolved oxygen is a measure of a water body’s ability to support aquatic life. Low dissolved oxygen can lead to fishkill and loss of other aquatic organisms.
The study also showed a high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among children living in urban slums along the river.
Thirty other barangays from the nearby towns of Leganes, Oton and San Miguel, Iloilo also drain their sewerage into the river.
Engr. Noel Hechanova, City Environment and Natural Resources Office chief, said some half a million gallons of wastewater drain into the river every day.
The IBP earlier filed a mandamus case against the city government relative to the conversion of the Calajunan dumpsite in Mandurriao into a sanitary landfill.
The lawyers said the conversion of the open dump should have been implemented sometime in 2006 in keeping with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2001.
The law stipulates that open dumpsites must be converted into landfills three years after its implementation.
Five years after the enforcement of the law, only sanitary landfills will be allowed.
Daquilanea said the Calajunan dumpsite emits offensive odor that assault residents of the district.
Lecheate or liquid discharges from the dumpsite also pollute the aquifer which is the source of groundwater.
The mandamus case impleaded the Office of the City Mayor, Sangguniang Panlungsod, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Health.
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