DENR shifts focus on dirty rivers
WITH a little more than a year left in his term, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu vowed to focus on the clean-up of all dirty rivers in the country.
Cimatu said as the rehabilitation of Boracay Island and the “Mission Manila Bay” continues, the remainder of his term of office will now center on the “battle of dirty rivers.”
During a mid-year assessment of priority projects meeting, the DENR chief stressed that massive clean-up of rivers and management of solid waste still remain at the top of his agenda.
He ordered the regional directors to make their respective Provincial and Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (PENROs and CENROs) “busy” with river clean-ups and rehabilitations.
“I want an inventory of all rivers with corresponding fecal coliform count within your jurisdiction by next month. Henceforth, all regional offices should rehabilitate and clean degraded rivers and other water bodies starting with those in highly urbanized cities,” Cimatu said.
To ensure the success of the activities under these priority programs, Cimatu instructed DENR’s regional officials and field officers to take the lead in the cleanup of rivers and management of solid wastes.
PENROs and CENROs being the frontline managers are also told not to skip management conferences.
The DENR has a total of 76 PENROs and 140 CENROs nationwide.
“I still have a little more than a year to go. In the next several months, I would like to see the mark of professionalism from the central office down to the PENROs and CENROs,” Cimatu said.
