In this episode, Carmina and Patch revisit the Pasig River’s consequential role in Manila's development, its former glory and the reasons for its eventual demise. But all is not lost – they talk about past and current revitalization efforts by government, private, and civic organizations that made great strides in resuscitating the river. However, a new threat is imminent that if unchecked, will unwind decades of progress. Listen in as Carmina and Patch discuss ways to ensure Pasig River's continued road to recovery.
Watch Tindig Arki: Student Summit, a one-day seminar held on May 9, 2023 where speakers from invited organizations gave a talk about environmental justice and climate action to provide a venue where architecture students develop critical thinking in serving the Filipino community using their knowledge of the architectural practice.
To support FilTrip, go to the Patreon page here and PayPal page here.
In this episode, Carmina and Patch revisit the Pasig River’s consequential role in Manila's development, its former glory and the reasons for its eventual demise. But all is not lost – they talk about past and current revitalization efforts by government, private, and civic organizations that made great strides in resuscitating the river. However, a new threat is imminent that if unchecked, will unwind decades of progress. Listen in as Carmina and Patch discuss ways to ensure Pasig River's continued road to recovery.
Watch Tindig Arki: Student Summit, a one-day seminar held on May 9, 2023 where speakers from invited organizations gave a talk about environmental justice and climate action to provide a venue where architecture students develop critical thinking in serving the Filipino community using their knowledge of the architectural practice.
To support FilTrip, go to the Patreon page here and PayPal page here.
Welcome to FilTrip, a podcast where we explore everything fun, weird, and in between about the Philippines. And now a quick shout out. Check out Manila Candle. Manila Candle features Filipino inspired scents like Tagaytay, Palawan, Ube Halaya and Buco and Mango. They also have fun ones like Ay Nako and Bahala Ka Sa Buhay Mo.
Patch:
Enjoy their car fresheners, wax melts and merchandise to visit manilacandle.com and take a trip to the Philippines through their scents.
Carmina:
Back to our show.
Patch:
Today's trip is a side trip when we take a short detour to a specific place and discuss it in a bit more depth. And today we're taking a trip to Pasig River.
Carmina:
Rivers play such an important role in civilization and world history. So when you think of big rivers, you think of the great civilizations that developed all around it. So for example, the Nile River in Egypt, the river Thames in London, and the river Seine in Paris. Everywhere there's a huge river. It's inevitable that civilization just develops around it. And in the case of the Philippines, the Pasig river was the cradle of Philippines civilization and was a huge contributor to the development of Manila.
Patch:
The river was a major source of water and livelihood for various communities that settled early on in our history.
Carmina:
It was as also a major means by which people navigated the city. It was a big transportation hub. I even saw illustrations where the coconut farmers would use the river to transport their coconuts. And if you think about it, coconuts are really, really heavy. You know what they did?
Patch:
I kind of read about it, but yes, go ahead.
Carmina:
They built rafts made of the actual coconuts they were selling that they would just kind of prod through the river until it got to the place where it needed to go. That might have been a sight to see . Huh? What would they ride after they sold all their coconuts? <laugh> ? How would they come back where they came from? I'm sure there was a way, but the rich and the elite built summer houses along the banks of the river. And in fact, even Malacanang the presidential palace was born there. So Patch, what do you remember about the Pasig River?
Patch:
I don't remember much of it. It was very polluted. It was very dirty, murky, and everything smelled bad. So in general, our family stayed away <laugh> from the Pasi River.
Carmina:
Same here. I really don't think that it had any kind of appeal to us when we were growing up because it was declared biologically dead by 1990. You didn't go there unless you had a really, really good reason to be there.
Patch:
Thankfully, there's documentation on how elegant that area was. There's a quote that I saw that describes Pasig River was where the newest and most elegant houses were built upon the banks of the river. Simple in exterior. They contained inventions of luxury. It lined with vases from China, Japan, and it was really dazzling to the eyes Carmina. I found an article that wrote about how Jose Rizal romanticized the Pasig river. So he wrote about it in El Filibustorismo. There's a cave in Guadalupe named Dona Geronima and legend has it that basically she had a boyfriend who was sent to Manila to study when she was younger and she was waiting for him.
Carmina:
Mm -hmm . <affirmative> Love story.
Patch:
Before leaving. He promised to marry her, but he didn't return. Oh , typical. Right?
Carmina:
Mm -hmm . <affirmative> .
Patch:
When Dona Geronima went to search for him, she discovered that he was already an archbishop.
Carmina:
Ah . That was an unexpected twist.
Patch:
Exactly. And he gave her a cave near Guadalupe as, a shelter for her to stay in. And so that's where she stayed. And it was believed that to this day you would see her washing her plates by the river, throwing them out into the river and they would return clean and gleaming <laugh> . Well, for sure. Not today, <laugh>.
Carmina:
I actually also read a lot about the glory of the Puente de España or the Bridge of Spain, and it was a super structure that connected Binondo and Ermita. There were a lot of historical accounts of how beautiful it was. That bridge was the oldest in the country before it was damaged by a flood in 1914. That's where you saw all of those triple branched street lamps. Those were made by a company in Paris called Lacarrière., which was renowned for their lanterns, their lamps, their candelabras and chandelier creations that were seen in a lot of historical sites and the world back then. They brought it all the way to Manila to light and decorate the bridge. It was damaged by a flood in 1914, and it was replaced by the Jones Bridge, which began construction in 1916 and was finished in 1921 . It was done in a neoclassical style and it rivaled bridges in the US and Europe just as the Bridge of Spain did during its time.
Patch:
Thankfully, Jones Bridge was transformed again quite recently to its, well, maybe not to its former glory, but at the very least it was restored.
Carmina:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Patch:
Have you seen pictures of it lately?
Carmina:
I have. And there were many elaborate statues in the original that were brought back to that restoration project. And there's a particular one actually for the La Madre Filipina or in English, the Philippine Motherland. So there were originally four of them, but only three of them survived. They were meant to represent democracy, justice, gratitude, and progress. We'll link an article on our show notes to describe and show what each one looks like because they all look different and have different significance anyway Patch. Do you know why it's called Jones Bridge ? Did you ever wonder.
Patch:
Now I am <laugh> . Why? Why is it called Jones Bridge? <laugh>?
Carmina:
It's named after a former Virginia representative William Atkinson Jones. He was the principal author of Jones Law, which is also known as the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, which is the bill that promised our future independence. He was the longest continuously serving democratic House member of his time. And some say that he believed the US was better off granting the Philippines its independence because the cost of defending and maintaining it exceeded the benefits to the us . But he was actually more known in the US and in the Philippines as someone who defended the Filipinos against misrepresentation. And he really considered it a labor of love to advocate for Philippine independence. I'm going to quote from a speech that he made on May 1st, 1916, "Fervently believing with that great apostle of human liberty, Thomas Jefferson , that the people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights. My prayer is that the day is not far distant when we shall see a rise in the Far East, a free and independent Christian nation to be known throughout the world as the Republic of the Philippine Islands." He was so well loved in the Philippines because of this, and it wasn't just the bridge that was apparently named after him. There is some municipality named Jones and Isabella and the municipality of Banton in Roblon, was also named Jones in 1918 before it went back to its old name in 1959. And so those Las Madres Filipinas statues that I was talking about earlier was a tribute also to Jones and the values that were embedded into the Jones Law. Patch, you were talking earlier about how we, we no longer see those magnificent houses along the banks of the river, but thankfully there are a few historical landmarks that remain. So we already mentioned the Malacanang palace or the presidential palace. There's also the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, which is one of the oldest in the Philippines and Bahay Kuwago, which was used by Andres Bonifacio in some of the revolutionary efforts. So with all its past glory Patch and all of the beauty that apparently was around it, what the heck happened to it?
Patch:
Industrialization and quote unquote , progress happened, right?
Carmina:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> World War II destroyed a huge part of the river banks during the Battle of Manila, and it really never recovered from the war.
Patch:
Remnants of the war and shattered buildings were deposited into the basin.
Carmina:
And land-based transportation also became the priority, which lessened the reliance on the river for transportation. And so people kind of neglected it. Land became the more important way by which people earned a living, and the river from that perspective became useless. So apart from the industrialization byproducts, people contributed by throwing trash in the river as well, all of which unfortunately affected the natural ecosystem of the river. And oxygen levels became very low to sustain life.
Patch:
It's interesting that even during the time of the Spanish, they already noticed that the waters were starting to not be as pristine. By the 1930s, they continued to notice the decline of Pasig river when fish migration from Laguna Lake decreased. And by the 1950s people stopped bathing and washing in the river. It started to smell and turn black during the 60's. And by the 70's, that's when the river fell below Class C levels, as they call it , of pollution. And even below that, by 1975, by the 1980s, river tourism diminished and all types of fishing was essentially brought to an end.
Carmina:
I found a study in 2012 on the chemical properties of the water. 100 signifies perfectly pristine. Manila Bay, which is on one side of the Pasig River, scored 16, and in the center of the Pasig River it scored a six. And that was the last study I found on the internet on the chemical properties. I even found it really interesting that I found an electronic freedom of information request from a grad student requesting for the up-to-date data of the chemical properties and water quality of the Pasig River to use for his or her master's thesis. And it doesn't seem like there is anything after 2012. At least not that I could find.
Patch:
So basically they just gave up <laugh>.
Carmina:
I know . That's so sad, right? But not everybody gave up. Yes. There have been many rehabilitation efforts over the years spanning different administrations since 1989 when President Cory Aquino started the Pasig River Rehabilitation Program and the timeline was to bring the Pacific River back to being a healthy waterway within 15 years.
Patch:
That's right, Carmina . And this was in collaboration with the Denmark's Foreign Development Assistance Program. It was intended to restore the ecological health of the Pasig River through proper waste disposal, public awareness, and cleaning the river itself.
Carmina:
After that, there were several other projects such as when President Joseph Estrada established the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission in 1999. And even foundations like the ABS CBN Foundation's Environmental Arm Bantay Kalikasan entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2008 to join in the efforts. And it includes a fun run for Pasig River every month of October, which is attended by so many supporters who begin activity starting at four in the morning. And we're going to link a video in our show notes to show some of the projects and the changes over the years. All of these efforts, even if we didn't stick with a 15 year timeline <laugh> .
Patch:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Carmina:
Seem to be working though because in 2018, the Pasig River won over the Yangtze River in China, when it was recognized in the Asia River Prize Awards. Plus fi sh a re starting to populate the river again. And in 2019 there was this viral video, you know, showing a man catching a really big fish. Although there have been warnings to not eat fish from the river just yet.
Patch:
<laugh>. I think also that was a really big deal because the last time the local saw fish or any kind of creature <laugh> in the waters was in the 70's.
Carmina:
So a lot of optimistic developments. In 2019 though, president Duterte ended the Pasig Rehabilitation Commission and handed over the functions to the Manila Bay Task Force and DENR. He justified this by declaring the river, quote unquote already clean. But as always, there's controversy because a few months prior, Duterte fired the former head of the commission because of alleged corruption scandals. Plus he also apparently said just a few months before that the river was uncleanable. And I can't help wonder if there are other nefarious things underfoot because now there's a new threat that all of us need to be worried about.
Patch:
Are you referring to the Pasig River Expressway?
Carmina:
Yes. PAREX?
Patch:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Carmina:
The plan is to build a six lane elevated expressway and it's being hyped as a way to reduce traffic by providing an east-west corridor in Pasig city. The project is spearheaded by the San Miguel Corporation.
Patch:
They are saying that this represents a solution because building the new connection between East and West Manila will necessitate cleaning up the river. First, they're going to spend all this money to clean up the river and dredging the river beds,
Carmina:
Ninety-fve billion peso Patch, which is roughly 1.7 billion US dollars . All sounds good and nice, but thankfully there are watchful eyes. And one of our high school classmates, Sally, hi Sally!
Patch:
Hi Sally!
Carmina:
Who is a member of the United Architects of the Philippines Diliman Chapter is one of many architects who are saying no to PAREX. They are just one of many concerned citizens who worry that PAREX will further threaten the Pasig River and will reverse many decades of progress. So the United Architects of the Philippines Diliman Chapter, wrote to nine senators, urging them to oppose the PAREX. And they wrote a statement that outline a lot of important facts, refuting the claims about the PAREX on the claim that PAREX will solve the traffic congestion. What do they say?
Patch:
The assertion that more urban expressways will solve traffic congestion is a false and misleading statement. They're saying because building new roads does not ease traffic congestion. And they also cited the studies that show due to induced demand, new express ways will actually increase traffic congestion rather than ease it.
Carmina:
And not to mention that the environmental impact assessment that was done said that there are a lot of risks such as infrastructure collapse, hazards, accidents, spills to the river, greenhouse gas emissions from increased number of vehicles leading to respiratory diseases. And this was never addressed in the proposal of PAREX or addressed with a very light touch without any detailed risk mitigation plans on how to address them. Parex is also justifying the project by saying that the Pasig River is not an environmentally critical area. So the UAP is calling for closer scrutiny and to protect the Pasig River by declaring it as an environmentally critical area. They're also advocating for the river to be declared as a national heritage site so that we can protect it and continue its restoration. And as for that 95 billion peso funding, they suggest that it be diverted to public transport system improvements instead.
Patch:
As far as tourism is concerned, in particular Pasig River, we mentioned some of the heritage areas, the Jones Bridge, Malacanang, etc. Can you imagine these views being blocked by a highway?
Carmina:
Yeah, I'll pay money for that <laugh>. And joking aside, why would you even want to go where your sight line is obstructed by a concrete monster like an expressway <laugh>?
Patch:
Exactly. We know we should protect our heritage's visual integrity is what they call it.
Carmina:
And then the other thing that I didn't really think about patch until I read the paper is what's called the daylighting of the river. So by building this expressway on top of the river, it's going to obstruct sunlight. And as we know, sunlight is very important for all forms of life.
Patch:
San Miguel corporation is claiming that PAREX will only be built on the banks of the river . You know, they're saying it's not going to completely cover the river, but what environmentalists are saying is it doesn't really matter. Any portion of the river being covered will contribute to pollution and all those other reasons that you have mentioned earlier.
Carmina:
And you know, for people like us who have not such great memories of the river from our childhood, I really urge everybody to go to YouTube, get their hands on every video that they can find about the Pasig River as it is today. And you'll see all of those conservation efforts really made a huge difference. I was actually floored by the difference
Patch:
Night and day.
Carmina:
And so we shouldn't stop the momentum. Instead we should be doubling down.
Patch:
Let's also talk about what they are proposing instead. They did outline some examples of what was done in other cities and what could be done in our city as well. One of which is the Singapore River example. In the 1970s, the Singapore River was pretty much in the same state as Pasig River. And it took Lee Kuan Yew ten years and 170 million dollars to clean up the Singapore River. And now if you look at it, it is one of the most pristine rivers that has a working urban water reservoir.
Carmina:
The other example that they provided is the Cheonggyecheon river in the Seol metropolitan area. The government actually dismantled a ten lane roadway and four lane elevated highway. And instead they built a 10.9 kilometer long open space that attracted 64,000 visitors daily. And throughout the process, the government made sure that the public was involved. They held 4,200 meetings with residents and they created a Wall of Hope program to encourage involvement. It cost 345.2 million US dollars , but the project resulted in very impressive statistics. There was a 76% increase in pedestrian activity, 45% decrease in vehicle volume, 4.5% reduction in urban heat island effect, 10.3% decrease in air pollution, 15.1% increase in bus ridership and 3.3 increase in subway ridership. And they're saying that PAREX is almost twice the length of Cheonggyecheon. So we can just imagine the opposite statistics that will happen. So what can people do Patch?
Patch:
We are encouraging everyone to write the mayors, their senators, their congressman, anyone who is in power to do anything about this.
Carmina:
And we also encourage all of our listeners, anywhere you're located to look into the Ilog Pasiglahin movement by Greenpeace Philippines. It's composed of heritage groups, youth groups, biking advocates, and small businesses who are united in opposing the PAREX in their website. You'll find ways you can contribute and participate. One of the alternatives that's really heavily supported is what's called the Pares, which stands for the Pasig River Esplanade. They have some beautiful depictions of what it could be. The other organization that people should check out is that Renacimiento Manila, which is another group composed entirely of volunteers who are artists, creators, and history buffs who are working to conserve and educate about old Manila. Renacimiento Manila means rebirth in Manila, in English. And you know, Patch, as I was looking into all of these efforts, I was so encouraged because so many young people are very active in Ilog Pasiglahin as part of the Ilog Pasiglahin movement. There really have been many, many events people have put up to increase awareness. They have fun runs, they have cleanup days and I even saw a video of a dragon boat race from last year. And Patch, we really can't not mention another group that are unsung heroes and are most often forgotten when we talk about Pasig river conservation efforts. We need to mention the river warriors of Pasig.
Patch:
Oh yes, of course. I've seen the videos of them actually diving into the waters. They're actually doing the actual work of cleaning the Pasig River.
Carmina:
They're a small group of community volunteers who have made it their life mission and some of them work and seven hour shifts, like you said, to manually pick up garbage and God knows what else.
Patch:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Carmina:
Many of them have been added for years and even decades. So we really thank you. So Patch, I want to end by sharing one legend about how the Pasig River got its name.
Patch:
Okay.
Carmina:
You might have heard of many origin stories. One of them says that it's a combination of the word Pas meaning fast flow of water, and Ig, which is the Magindanawan, one word for water, hence Pasig.
Patch:
That word Ig is present in other words, that uh , pertain to water, like tubig or igib.
Carmina:
Right. I read that too. There's another one that says that Pasig is an old Sanskrit word that means a river flowing from one body of water to another. And that perfectly describes Pasig River because it flows from Laguna de Bay , it's in the middle Pasig river, and then onto Manila Bay, which the seal of Pasig depicts. There's a woman at the center of the logo and on each side of her are waves meant to represent bodies of water. On one side is Laguna De Bay, and then on the other side is Manila Bay . But this is my favorite and it has something to do with your name.
Patch:
I knew it <laugh> .
Carmina:
So let me tell the story. Once there were two star crossed lovers named Vergilio and Pas who decided to elope by boat via the river, the boat capsized and the man fell calling his lover's name. He said, Paz sigeme over and over until he drowned <laugh> . So in English, Paz sigime means pass help me. And so I was wondering what must have Paz <laugh> in that time been doing for Vergilio to keep crying out over and over. So I guess in his last moment, the sentence was cut off in the middle as he sank and all he managed to get out was Pasig glug glug. And I guess that was the end of him.
Patch:
<laugh> . Well, if it was this Paz, me in particular, I would be waving goodbye <laugh> . On that note.
Carmina:
So that's our episode. We hope you join us on our next trip. O siya, siya!
Patch:
Ingat! Thanks for listening to Filtrip with Carmina and Patch Support Filtrip through Patreon or PayPal. And follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever all podcasts are downloaded.
Carmina:
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