SMC restarts cleanup of Tullahan River to ease flooding in Metro Manila

SMC’s river cleanup initiative has returned to Tullahan River to restore its depth and carrying capacity for floodwater.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is restarting cleanup of the Tullahan River, three years after it completed the P1-billion effort.

The company said its regular LIDAR monitoring, which uses laser technology to map river depth, showed that silt and waste had again accumulated, limiting the river’s ability to drain floodwaters into Manila Bay.

The 27-kilometer river, which runs through Quezon City, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Navotas, was the first focus of SMC’s Better Rivers PH program that was launched in 2020. By 2022, the company had cleared 1.12 million metric tons of waste and silt from a 10.9-kilometer stretch near the North Luzon Expressway.

SMC Chairman Ramon S. Ang said the return to Tullahan reflects the company’s long-term commitment to mitigating flooding through river cleanups. “It is not unexpected that silt and garbage have re-accumulated. Heavy rains have brought more erosion, and waste dumping continues. That’s why we really need to go back,” he said.

Since 2020, Better Rivers PH has removed 8.6 million metric tons of silt and waste from 165 kilometers of waterways at no cost to government. Beyond the Tullahan, SMC has undertaken cleanups in the Pasig, San Juan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Parañaque and Laguna river systems, and recently began work on the Alabang and Las Piñas rivers.

In Quezon City, SMC is working with the local government under a memorandum of agreement to clear obstructions along the river’s easements and restore its natural width. Mayor Joy Belmonte said the initiative complements the city’s flood-control and waste-management programs.

Meanwhile, Valenzuela City Mayor Wes Gatchalian and Navotas City Mayor John Rey Tiangco have also asked SMC to extend cleanup to their sections of the Tullahan and its tributaries.

Initial work has started at the river’s mouth in Manila Bay and shallow channels in Valenzuela and Malabon. SMC also plans to extend cleanup upstream to La Mesa Dam and widen sections of the San Juan River and its tributaries.

“For five years now, we have been cleaning rivers because flooding disrupts lives and the economy,” Ang said. “This is our way of contributing to long-term solutions that affect millions of Filipinos.”
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This coincides with World Rivers Day, observed by more than 100 countries to promote protection of natural waterways.