EMB-7, Hilongos LGU agree to save creek

HILONGOS, LEYTE, Philippines  – Officials of this town and the Environment Management Bureau of the DENR-7, with the participation of non-government organizations and a private enterprise have signed a memorandum of agreement to save the town’s Calmasin Creek.

Calmasin Creek was once a place where one would go for swimming. It had clear running water with healthy mangroves and abundant fish in an undisturbed ecosystem leading to the sea.

Under the MOA, the EMB-7 will provide technical support to the Hilongos LGU, which in turn, including its barangays, will enact the necessary laws in line with Republic Act 9003 mandating the segregation of wastes among other ways to help in the preservation, cleaning and/or restoring any water bodies within their areas of responsibility.

The NGOs and donor partners from the private sector will be tapped to coordinate and contribute for the program.

Letecia Maceda, EMB-7 director, emphasized the importance of minimizing pollution in water bodies in a community. “Clean water is a source of food and it is very important for community leaders to do their best in preserving it. Water is life, there’s no doubt about it,” she said.

Maceda also announced that, as of December 2011, the EMB-7 has already cleaned up 153 water bodies in collaboration with 208 donor-partners from either the NGOs or the private sectors or both.

Hilongos town Mayor Jose Emery Roble, told the attending stakeholders that the “Adopt an Estero Program,” which the LGU, EMB, NGOs and private sector will jointly undertake, is very helpful to Hilongosnons.

“Aside from the food we can get from non-polluted creeks and rivers, dengue and other water-borne diseases will also be prevented,” he said.

The mayor also thanked the HAGIT (Honesty, Accountability, Good Governance, Integrity and Transparency) Movement, a local NGO, and Villaquer Tours, also from this town, for initiating the move to save the creek that eventually led to the MOA signing.