EMB appeals for companies to adopt a river

CEBU, Philippines - The Environment Management Bureau (EMB) is appealing for all companies, whether big or small, to join the bureau’s “Adopt a River” program.

EMB 7 Regional Director Fernando Quililan said in a phone interview that they are “really in need of responsible donor partners.”

“We can’t do it alone. It needs a collective effort,” he said, adding, “We don’t have to wait for a calamity to happen or a tragedy inorder for us to work together.”

Last Wednesday, only one company joined as a new partner for the project by signing a memorandum of agreement during a ceremony at the Diamond Suites and Hotel.

The “Adopt a River” program is a brainchild of Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje. It was launched nationwide last March 1, 2011.

Since then, only 13 companies in Cebu have signed as donor partner for the program.

Paje, according to Quililan, believes that any effort done by an outsider to clean up the community will not be supported by the locals. Therefore, added the secretrary, it is best to ask local companies to join the campaign of the environment department.

Taheiyo Cement of San Fernando joined in last Wednesday, promising to help rehabilitate the San Fernando River. The company has actually been doing this already since 2008 although not as part of the DENR-EMB’s program. — Michael Angelo A. Gallego Bicol University intern/JPM (THE FREEMAN)