THE restoration and rehabilitation of the Cagayan River will continue even after the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte ends in June 2022.

This was the assurance made by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu following the signing of memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the DENR and 22 national government agencies for the sustenance of the gains from the river’s restoration and rehabilitation.

Cimatu said that the signing of the MOA highlighted the first anniversary of the Cagayan River Rehabilitation Project (CRRP) under the Task Force Build Back Better (TF BBB).

“Let us hope that what this administration has started to build back better, the mighty Cagayan River will be built upon by the next administration,” Cimatu said in his virtual address to the regional directors representing the 23 national agencies comprising the TF BBB.

Cimatu, who also chairs the TF BBB, added that the immediate, impactful, and doable solutions” undertaken by the regional TF BBB member agencies have provided a guide and roadmap to the task force’s other priorities on the use of limited resources and has made the first year of the CRRP successful.

Benito Antonio de Leon, DENR Undersecretary for Enforcement and TF BBB focal person for Region 2, on the other hand, said the rollout of projects in Cagayan Valley is a “pioneer” in the establishment of a regional task force in light of Cimatu’s recent order for the creation of regional task forces starting in typhoon Odette-stricken regions, namely Mimaropa, Caraga, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, and Northern Mindanao.

“Region-2 TF BBB served as the template for the other TF BBB areas to follow,” De Leon said, noting the prompt response of Region 2 member-agencies to convene after President Duterte issued Executive Order No. 20 on November 18, 2020, for the creation of the TF BBB.

The TF BBB has identified at least 19 sandbars for clearing, of which three are for priority dredging as they obstruct the floodwater flow to the Aparri Delta and to the Babuyan Channel, which is its final destination.

Phase 1 of TF BBB’s project on flood mitigation in Cagayan River covered the dredging of a sandbar in the Magapit Narrows in Bangag, Lal-lo which was done in nine months, from February to October last year, exceeding its target of 344,304 cubic meters by 17,229 cubic meters.

The installation of one-kilometer-long geotubes is expected to be completed this month as an added engineering measure to protect the 257-meter long Magapit Suspension Bridge in Lal-lo which connects the east and west sides of the Cagayan River.

Phase 2 of the sandbar clearing operation is now at Barangay Dummun in Gattaran with some 112,120 cubic meters dredged as of Jan. 10 or 11.55 percent of the targeted 970,962 cubic meters.

Other salient accomplishments of the TF BBB, through the Region 2 TF BBB, include the establishment of 585 hectares of bamboo plantation along the riverbanks.

About 820.62 hectares were also planted with various tree species through the Enhanced National Greening Program.

So far, 1,580 kilometers have been surveyed in coordination with the Registry of Deeds to facilitate the delineation and easement recovery of the 20-meter easement along the Cagayan River and its tributaries.

For soil and water conservation measures, 250 cubic meters have been built for the small water impounding structures and 5,000 cubic meters for gabions and ripraps in Baggao, Cagayan; San Guillermo and San Agustin in Isabela; and Aglipay and Cabarroguis in Quirino.