SIXTEEN organizations will join the clean-up of Bulacao River, which will be led by the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) on February 23.

Cenro chief Nida Cabrera said some 1,000 individuals pledged to help clean Bulacao River.

Cabrera said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recommended to Cenro to clean the Bulacao River first because it is the most polluted river in the city.

It is one of the five dead river systems in Cebu City that the Cenro wants to rehabilitate.

DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier told his regional directors that they will be relieved if they will fail to clean the dirty rivers in their area of jurisdiction.

For his part, Councilor Joel Garganera said the city residents should be held liable for polluting the rivers in the city.

“We need to have an awareness... the people should change their attitude in treating our rivers. In other countries, people choose to live along the riverbanks to enjoy nature, but here they seem to do so so that they can easily dump (their garbage),” he said.

Garganera said the rivers that run in the urban areas of the city are “biologically dead.” These rivers, he said, need thorough cleaning to bring them back to life.

“When you talk about rivers, that’s everybody’s concern kay wa ra na nigamay ug nimabaw tungod ang sapa ug iyaha ra (because they did not become narrow or shallow on their own). Tungod na natong tanan (It happened because of all of us),” Garganera said. (From PAC of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)