Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III clarified that the “dirtiest river” cleaned up by an Australian environmental activist and entrepreneur is located in Taguig City and not in the municipality. 

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

Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III (Photo from Pateros municipal government's Facebook page)

Australian Mike Smith said the "dirtiest river" is located in Pateros (Screenshots from Smith's Instagram video)

Australian Mike Smith cleaning up the "dirtiest river" (Screenshots from Smith's Instagram video)

Australian Mike Smith posing before and after the river cleanup (Screenshots from Smith's Instagram video)

“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 removed more than 100,000 kilos of trash  from the river. 

Ponce said the river is located in Barangay Rizal, which is now under Taguig and formerly under the supervision of Makati. In a decision which became final last year, the Supreme Court transferred 10 barangays including Rizal from Makati to Taguig. 

“Actually wala niyan sa loob ng Pateros (Actually there is nothing like that in Pateros),” Ponce told Manila Bulletin, adding that this is the reason why the Pateros municipal government posted a clarification on its official Facebook page. 

He added, “Wala kang makikitang ganyang ilog sa Pateros. Ngayon nagtataka lang ako sa dito sa Australyanong si Mike Smith bakit sasabihing Pateros river. Ito yung nasa boundary (You will not see a river like that in Pateros. Now I’m wondering why this Australian Mike Smith said it was Pateros river. This is in the boundary).” 

“Ang totoo, ang nilinis nila ay sa lugar ng Barangay Rizal na dating Makati na ngayon ay sakop na ang Taguig (The truth is, what they cleaned up was an area in Barangay Rizal which was formerly part of Makati and now under Taguig),” Ponce clarified. 

The mayor said Smith was with Taguig volunteers for the cleanup and Pateros was never contacted about this even the barangay nearest to the river. 

Ponce said what was interviewed were residents of Barangay Rizal, Taguig. 

He said the river that Smith cleaned up was the “Taguig-Pateros river but never Pateros river.”

“Sana yung mga iresponsableng statement ive-verify muna. Ang problema kasi, kapag teritoryo ang pinag-uusapan, sakupan at income e Taguig o Makati. Pero pag dumi na ang pinag-uusapan, binabato nila sa Pateros. Hindi naman ata tama yun, di ba? (I hope these irresponsible statements should be verified first. The problem is when territory is being discussed, takeover and income, it’s about Taguig or Makati. But when waste is being discussed, they throw it at Pateros. This is not right, isn’t it?),” said Ponce.