Illegal structures built on its banks clog and cause the Marikina River to overflow in heavy rains, experts and government officials said in a special report on GMA News TV’s “Balitanghali" newscast Tuesday.
Laws prohibit building houses and other structures beyond certain points along the banks of Marikina River so that water flows freely, the report pointed out.
It is important to keep the river unclogged because its serves as the basin for rain water flowing from surrounding provinces, including Montalban and Boso-Boso in Rizal, according to the report.
The build-up of wastes and other sediments in bodies of water compound the problem, it added.
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Marikina City Ordinance 161, Series 2006 says, “the whole stretch of the Marikina River is not buildable within 96 meters from the center line of the water." The ordinance describes the area as a “very vital floodway for the valley."
Similarly, the Water Code of the Philippines prohibits building any structure that could impede the space for floodway in the country’s rivers.
“All easements of public use prescribed for the banks or rivers and the shores of seas and lakes shall be reckoned from the line reached by the highest flood," the Water Code says.
Suspicious encroachments
However, at least 6,157 houses and 346 business establishments line the stretch of the Marikina River from Rodriguez, Rizal to Pasig City, according to the report.
“May nakita rin tayo na mga suspicious encroachments, mga semento, mga bakal, perpendicular to the river edge," Marikina Vice Mayor Jose Fabian Cadiz said.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Flood Control and Sewerage Management Office Engr. Baltazar Melgar added, “Dapat nga diyan hindi binahayan kasi flood plain ‘yan, reserved by nature for the passage of flood. Pero ang nangyari, nagkaroon na ng kabayahan diyan."
“Ang Marikina River, kulang na ‘yung kanyang capacity, tapos nagkakaroon pa ng constriction," Melgar added.
Relocation is key
In a special report in 2009, GMA News Online meanwhile said over 150,000 households still live in the most hazardous and flood-prone areas in Metro Manila.
“The key to disaster risk reduction is simply relocation and engineering intervention," Albay Governor Joey Salceda then said.
The increase of man-made structures blocking the natural flow of rivers and streams is due to overpopulation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources explained earlier this year.
“Ang pinakakalaban natin ay population. Habang dumadami ang population, nag-e-encroach sa waterways. Inagawan natin ‘yung tubig ng pupuntahan niya. Tapos ‘pag may namatay na tao, sisihin natin ‘yung ulan," said DENR Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Leo Nazareno in an interview aired on GMA News’ “24 Oras" newscast. — With Paterno Esmaquel II/VS
