Since the start of the rainy season, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) collects five truckloads of water hyacinths every day from the Pasig River.
This was according to MMDA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Celine Pialago.
Recently, the MMDA indefinitely suspended the operations of the Pasig River Ferry Service (PRFS) due to the volume of water hyacinths present on the river.
"Before the rainy season, we just get almost a truckload of water hyacinths from the river. That is our usual in our daily clean-up operation," she said.
"There are so many of them. The water hyacinths multiplied during the rainy season," Pialago added.
The agency spokesperson said Pasig River is 27 kilometers long. However, Pialago said they have no data for the specific portions of the river covered with water hyacinths.
MMDA, she said, uses a trash skimmer, trash boat, trash trap, and arm backhoe to collect the water hyacinths blocking the route of the PRFS.
Water hyacinths sometimes cause the wreckage of the propellers of ferry boats, Pialago said.