Hope from an estero

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody. — Herbert Bayard Swope

There is not much that makes me happier than making a difference and seeing a project bloom. Two weeks ago, I experienced trepidation in going to Estero de Paco. I hadn’t been there in two months. For more than a year I would go there every week, sometimes twice a week. But now I was nervous.

I had a manager previously who turned out a fluke. I told Ryan, the current operations head, “Please don’t break my heart!”

What a relief for me to go there and see an estero abloom. My staff and the river warriors had delivered! I was even happier to see the new developments: the construction of a three-storey building, a supermarket that was expanding its base alongside the estero.

But the data that gave me the most happiness was the results of a two-month study done by Dr. Bo Arboleda and Dr. Freddie Obligacion. Both esteemed academicians went around the estero to find out the impact of the work we had been doing there. The results were overwhelming. A total of 1,770 families have total savings of P1.3 million because they did not have to shell out their usual P3,500 due to flooding.  For decades every year they would have to move out of the place for six to 12 hours. There is P819 worth of savings every month for 85 percent of the population. This means 5,078 families save a total of approximately P4 million every month!  Since the place and the air are cleaner they were spending less money on medical bills.   According to the blotter statistics, in seven out of the 16 barangays, there is a 40 percent reduction in crime! There was even savings in R and R . A total of 6,270 families were saving P180 monthly because they could now relax near their homes. This amounted to P1.3 million monthly. The table which elated me no end is this:

The table is an indication that the benefits of Paco extend far beyond the economy into the very way they feel about themselves, into the way they interact with each other. It is statistical proof that if we revere the environment the benefits are not just economic — they are social and even spiritual. This is one estero. Can you imagine if this is done everywhere?

I conjectured on the onset, if Estero de Paco is successful, then the Pasig River cleanup will happen. The data of Dr. Arboleda further validates this conviction.

What makes me even more fulfilled is that in truth this is an effort of everyone working together. If an estero, which was crime-ridden, drug-ridden and filthy can bloom like this in record time... Hope — resurgent, exhilarating hope — is the result. It is on this hope that we will build our future. 

Let the results of Estero de Paco be testament to the efforts of local government, national government, the private sector — and the community who have worked hand in hand, heart to heart towards the future our country should have. 

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.