Standing on the outer walls of Fort Santiago beside the Pasig River, one can look east and see Binondo (Manila’s Chinatown) across the river and the Manila Central Post Office building just beyond Jones Bridge. The 25-kilometer Pasig River connects Laguna de Bay (the largest lake in the Philippines) and Manila Bay. During the Spanish colonial era, it was a very important transport route, but because of uncontrolled population growth and industrialization after WWII, the river was neglected. Factories and scores of informal settlers on its banks dumped—and continue to dump—their waste in it, using it as their personal sewage system. Since the 1990s, the Pasig River has been considered ecologically dead. Needless to say, its pollution also affects Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. There have been several attempts to gather support for the river’s rehabilitation through the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, but they have been intermittent and never gained much ground. With 50,000 to 100,000 potential voters settled (illegally) on its banks, and national elections coming up next year, I don’t think that any attempt to rehabilitate the river will succeed any time soon.
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