ILOILO CITY – Sen. Cynthia Villar has emphasized the importance of dredging to clean up rivers and curb flooding during the monsoon season, especially in urban areas.
“Our rivers must be clean so they won't overflow and cause flooding. It overflows because of the silting. The rivers are shallow as trash piles up. We have to dredge rivers,” said Villar at the recent conference of the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines (SWAPP) hosted by Iloilo City.
“We have to teach people not to throw things unto the river,” added Villar in the annual conference which focused on disaster and waste management this year.
The lady senator said the widespread flooding from the recent severe tropical storm ‘’Paeng’’ should be another lesson to be learned from.
Villar noted how her native Las Piñas City has been able to curb the problem of flooding through ‘’Sagip Ilog,’’ a program that has gone down to the community level.
Las Piñas residents have been practicing composting while wastes such as coconut husks, which were once thrown in the river, were made into other by-products.