THE plan to rehabilitate the Butuanon River was recently boosted by the offer of former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) secretary Gina Lopez to help the Mandaue City Government in the effort. Lopez was in Mandaue Wednesday and visited the river, offering insights on how the job could be done.
Lopez has the experience as chairperson of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission in 2010, when the rehabilitation effort went into high gear with the support of the Philippine Government and some foreign entities. Pasig is still problematic but at least Lopez learned much from that effort. Those lessons are valuable when used to guide the Butuanon river project.
The Butuanon river, though, is not the sole responsibility of the Mandaue City Government or even of DENR, which has placed its rehabilitation as one of its priorities. One bank of the 24-kilometer river is in Mandaue while the other bank is in Cebu City, which would mean that Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who is not known to be a consensus-builder, will also have a say in any move to save the river.
An interesting sidelight to Lopez’s participation would be her conflict with Osmeña when she was still environment secretary. Lopez had ordered the closure of the Inayawan dumpsite after visiting the area, ironically with Osmeña, and later consulting with opposition councilor Joel Garganera. While her closure order was not implemented, the one ordered by the Court of Appeals was.
Is Osmeña willing to help in saving Butuanon river with Lopez around? That’s a question that only Osmeña can answer although judging from the mayor’s past acts, there’s a bigger possibility he would not. Osmeña has a long memory and is known to keep a grudge. But this case, we hope, could be an exception considering the need. The Butuanon River showcases many things that is wrong in government’s urban planning and saving it would be among the biggest story in local governance.
Rehabilitating the Butuanon River is a formidable task that can only be done if all of the stakeholders are locked in to it.