Mt Prov execs forge solution to stop Chico River pollution

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The provincial government and the municipal government of this capital town recently agreed on a solution to stop unabated dumping of waste by local residents along the Chico River which earned the ire of people living downstream, particularly those in Kalinga province the past decades.

Gov. Leonard Mayaen informed delegates of the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera during its recent second quarter meeting that the local governments have already crafted a solution to the supposed pollution of the Chico River to make the river system a source of marine life for local consumption.

Among the strategies adopted by the provincial and municipal governments include the purchase of a huge property within the town which will serve as its permanent dumpsite as well as the adoption of the 10-year provincial solid waste management plan to serve as the guidepost of all municipal governments in addressing the solid waste disposal problems in their respective places pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Earlier, the provincial government of Kalinga had been pestering the RDC-Cordillera the past years to force Bontoc and the provincial government solve dumping of waste along the Chico River which has resulted to the depletion of the fishes being raised in the river system.

However, Mayaen said the report that there are no longer fishes grown along the river is not true, citing that various species can still be found in some portions of the river but the pollution caused by the dumping of waste by local residents living along its banks still continues amidst the repeated warnings for them not to do so.

Based on Mayaen’s report to the RDC, the municipal government of Bontoc will shoulder the multi-million expenses to be utilized in putting up the landfill facility while the provincial government will take charge of constructing the access road leading to the garbage disposal site, thus, people will no longer have the reasons to dump their waste on the waters of the river.

Eighty percent of the whole stretch of the Chico River is located within the territorial jurisdiction of Kalinga while 20 percent is hosted by Mountain province where its headwaters like the Mount Data National Park among others are located.

Aside from the initiatives taken by the Mountain province local governments to solve the pollution of the Chico river, a substantial loan amounting to over $20 million from the Asian Development Bank ADB is also awaiting release after being endorsed by the RDC to bankroll the implementation of the integrated environment and natural resources management program in order to sustain its purpose as the major supplier of water which is used for domestic, agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes by lowland communities.

With the upcoming implementation of necessary interventions to address the solid disposal on the river, Mayaen is confident that people of Kalinga will no longer accuse Mountain province of polluting the river and its rich resource.