100 signatures reached
To: Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro
A Healthier Marikina City River: Rehabilitation and Tree-Planting Program
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We ask our mayor to give more attention to the rehabilitation of our river to avoid its possible death in the future - prevention is better than cure.
With that being said, we would like to be able to:
- plant more trees within our territory in the areas around the river to further nurture the river's ecosystem
- filter our water by removing plastic debris and any other garbage disrupting the river's environment
- hold monthly cleanups for the river with the help of volunteers not limited to Marikeños
And we would like our mayor to work with us in this by:
- giving us the legal permission to take the steps mentioned above
- author a new ordinance in the city to be strictly implemented, wherein litterers will be fined a considerable amount, and the amount increases if the litter is within the area of the river
- coordinate with the LGUs of Montalban, San Mateo, Rizal, and Rodriguez, Rizal with regards to implementing ordinances in their respective areas (more on the significance of this later)
Why is this important?
The city has always been prone to flooding, and the river's water levels have always been monitored during typhoons due to the impending danger of its overflowing. This danger can be attributed to the floodwaters that flow downwards from the upper Marikina ridges such as Montalban, San Mateo, Rizal and from the Sierra Madre Mountains, Rodriguez, Rizal.
The balance of Marikina river's ecosystem is constantly disrupted by toxins and waste that is transported daily not only to its surface but also down to its riverbed, which is why the coordination of our LGUs is crucial to its betterment. In the words of Josephine M. Viray in her article "Decongesting the Marikina River" (https://maritimereview.ph/2018/11/16/decongesting-the-marikina-river/): "It will be an impossible task to clean Marikina River without cleansing the waste and effluents from Montalban, San Mateo, Rizal and from the Sierra Madre mountains, Rodriguez, Rizal first before they flow down to the Marikina River, and add to the pollutants on the surface and bottom of the Marikina River brought about by the residents of surrounding LGUs."