By Henry Empeño / January 8, 2025

FOLLOWING its cleanup of major river systems in Metro Manila and nearby Bulacan province, multinational conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC) announced the recent completion of desilting operations at the Pampanga River, the second largest river in Luzon.

SMC said nearly some 694,372 cubic meters of silt and solid waste were removed from the 26.3-kilometer stretch of Pampanga River from mid-August to December last year under the firm’s “Better Rivers PH” program, an initiative that sought to restore waterways at no cost to the government.

SMC Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said the Pampanga project sought to effectively deepen the river’s channels and improve water flow out to Manila Bay.

“The Pampanga River is a major waterway in Central Luzon. Waters from here go to many other provinces, including Bulacan, which is downstream,” Ang pointed out.

The Pampanga River, which is also the country’s fifth longest river, traverses the provinces Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Pampanga.

“Since the river was already quite shallow due to siltation and pollution, during heavy rain, water would easily overflow in many areas, affecting farmlands and communities and even contributing to flooding in other areas. So, it was imperative for us to come here and help clean up the river,” Ang added.

Vice Mayor Vince Flores of the fishing town of Macabebe, meanwhile, said the dredging of the Pampanga River represents more than just a cleanup, but a “lifeline for a town burdened by its role as a natural catch basin.”

He noted that floodwaters from Nueva Ecija and San Fernando end up here in Macabebe, and before the cleanup, took days, even weeks, for water to recede.

“Now, with deeper channels, the flood subsides faster,” Flores said.

The Pampanga River cleanup is the latest in SMC’s list of completed river initiatives that included the massive cleanup of Bulacan River systems last year. Here, more than 4.31 million metric tons (MT) of silt and waste were extracted from 74.5-km waterways in the towns of Bambang, Meycauayan, Marilao, Sta. Maria, Guiguinto, and Balagtas.

The SMC said that the Better Rivers program, launched in 2020, has already covered a total of 156.42 km of waterways, extracting a total of 8,348,440 MT of silt and solid wastes as of January 2 this year.

This includes 1.12 MT removed from 10.9 km of Tullahan River; 1.18 MT from 26 km of Pasig River; 322,739 MT from 7.61 km of San Juan River; and 417,044 MT from 5.3 km of San Pedro River.

Ang said the Better Rivers PH cleanup program also enables safer operations of water ferries along waterways, improves water quality, reduces foul odors, and restores marine ecosystems. 