The Pateros municipal government denied that the “dirtiest river” an Australian environmentalist cleaned up was located in the town. 

Australian Mike Smith, founder of Zero Co., led the cleanup for 10 days of what he said was a river located in Pateros. 

Mike Smith during and after the clean-up campaign of the river (Instagram)

“The Pateros in Manila (Philippines) is the dirtiest river I’ve ever seen. Over the last week together with @zeroco.com.au and @thehiddenseawine we removed every single piece of rubbish,” he said in a Facebook post. 

He said he and more than 240 Filipino volunteers have removed more than 100,000 kilos of rubbish from the river. 

“One planet. Once ocean. Let’s untrash it. Together,” Smith wrote. 

However, the Pateros municipal government said the river that Smith cleaned up was located in Barangay Rizal, which is now under Taguig. 

In a video, Mike Smith referred to the river to be located in Pateros (Screenshots from Smith's video)

“Ang ilog na tinutukoy sa FB Post ng Australian na si Mike Smith na makikita sa itaas ay hindi ninyo makikita saan man sa loob ng bayan ng Pateros (The river being referred to in an FB [Facebook] post by Australian Mike Smith seen above cannot be seen anywhere in Pateros),” the municipal government said on March 28. 

It added that it implements a weekly river cleanup drive in different barangays. 

“Ang lugar na ipinapakita sa post sa itaas ay sa lugar ng Brgy Rizal na ngayon ay sakop ng Taguig City ( dating Makati) sa baybay ng Taguig-Pateros River sa may boundary ng Bayan ng Pateros at Taguig City (The place shown in the post above is in Brgy Rizal which is now under Taguig City [formerly in Makati] along the Taguig-Pateros River near the boundary of Pateros an Taguig City,” the Pateros municipal government explained. 

It said that this was why Smith did the river clean up in coordination with officials of Taguig City. 

“At sinumang opisyal ng bayan ng Pateros o alin man sa mga Barangay nito ay walang kinalaman sa nasabing clean up. Ang pagtukoy ni Mike Smith sa nasabing lugar na Pateros River ay hindi maliwanag at nagbibigay na pangit na impresyon sa ating bayan (Any official of Pateros or anyone from its barangays have nothing to do with the said clean up. Mike Smith’s mention of the place as Pateros River is not clear and gives an ugly impression of our municipality),” the municipal government added.