Before the 1930′s, Pasig River was a beautiful body of water that inspired poets, artists and ordinary people. Philippines national hero Jose Rizal was one of them. In the early 1900′s Pasig River was rich in aquamarine life giving sustenance to the people who were living along the riverbanks. The waters were clear and people got cool drinking water from it.

How did the Pasig River get polluted? With the industrialization of Manila, factories started to line up along the River. They started dumping their liquid wastes to the river. An oil depot was built along the Pandacan side of the River. People in Manila increased in number from a few thousand to 6 million.

Over the years, people built houses along the river mostly people who were from the provinces who trooped to the urban center for a dream of better life. Today, people who dwell along the riverbanks make the bulk of the urban poor in the Philippines. Since most of their houses don’t have access to government-supplied water, they use the river as their toilet.

People from inland Manila also started dumping their waste into the river because the government cannot keep up with the garbage collection system. As early as a decade ago, the solid and liquid waste in Pasig River have reached toxic level that it was proclaimed biologically dead.

There have been a number of projects aimed at rehabilitating the Pasig River: Piso para sa Pasig, Sagip Pasig and now Kapit Bisig sa Ilog Pasig spearheaded by the TV network giant ABS-CBN. The aim is to see Pasig River alive and supporting aquamarine and human life just like it was decades ago. Pasig River pollution is one of Philippines environmental issues that need the most urgent action.

Pasig River speaks a lot about who we are as a nation.