00:00 Rehabilitation of Pasig River is what we will discuss with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development spokesperson, Undersecretary Avelino Tolentino III.
00:11 Usec Tolentino, good afternoon.
00:13 Good afternoon ADG Jonathan Malaya sir, good afternoon.
00:18 Good afternoon sir.
00:21 First of all Usec, can you tell our countrymen how this Pasig River Rehabilitation Project was formed and conceptualized?
00:31 And how different is this from the Pasig River Rehabilitation Projects in the past?
00:37 Correct. As our beloved Secretary Jerry Acosar said when we had a ceremonial launching of the Pasig River Urban Development Program last Wednesday,
00:50 he mentioned that he was called by our beloved First Lady Luis Araneta Marcos to discuss how we will revive the Pasig River.
01:01 Based on that discussion, we eventually got Executive Order No. 35, Series of 2023, which was signed by our beloved President Juan Bon Marcos.
01:11 From there, we had an Interagency Council for Pasig River Urban Development and we had technical working group meetings and Interagency Council meeting.
01:22 To start this project, which is a bit big, it's a 25-kilometer stretch development of the river bank of Pasig River.
01:31 That's why we decided to focus on this showcase area that we developed behind the Manila Post Office.
01:39 That was the approach. This is different from our previous approaches because our rehabilitation of the Pasig River is now anchored in urban development.
01:51 That's why this mandate was given to DHSUD because of the anchoring of urban development.
01:57 We believe that the revitalization of the Pasig River will be achieved if our people will have the opportunity to enjoy and maximize the potential of the river bank of Pasig.
02:13 We believe that if our people will use the river banks, be it as a mode of transportation, as a place where they can walk,
02:24 a place where they can have commercial activities, a place where they can meet their friends and loved ones,
02:33 a place where they can relax and enjoy, we can see that our stakeholders will benefit from this and our people will have a level of awareness
02:46 that this will help our government to ensure that the Pasig River is always clean and alive.
02:53 You mentioned that our development will be 25 kilometers long. Just to show to the public what this means,
03:05 from the Intramuros area, how far will this go? Will we develop it to Makati?
03:11 Assistant Director General, our plan to build this is from Bunganga in Manila Bay, it will cross five local government units
03:24 to our old land, towards the Lagunitipayi.
03:30 Oh, it's very long.
03:33 When I imagine it, Sir, it sounds very exciting, very good news to those who love the outdoors,
03:42 especially during the pandemic, many suddenly started biking.
03:45 You know, I was also able to buy a new bike and now, the bike is parked in the garage.
03:52 Maybe now I can just take the bike out and ride it.
03:56 How far can it be biked or walked? Where is it now?
04:01 Yes ma'am. I will just mention it. Our showcase area is open 24/7.
04:07 At night, I think from 6 p.m. to around 10 p.m., our installations are lit.
04:14 We also have water features there that our countrymen can enjoy.
04:19 It's good because behind it, the post office is also lit.
04:23 On the side, we can see both Jones Bridge and MacArthur Bridge. It's also lit at night.
04:31 I'm thankful to the Manila Police District for their deployment of tourist police.
04:37 We saw last night that many people are using it.
04:40 When it comes to bicycles, ma'am, we saw many of our countrymen who went there and used bicycles.
04:49 Now, we developed a small portion of the riverbank.
04:53 That's why we only developed between the Jones Bridge and MacArthur Bridge.
04:59 But you can see in our showcase area, there is a transition bridge below where you can cross Jones Bridge without leaving the riverbank.
05:09 So that's our idea. Even if you ride a bicycle, you can continue on the normal bike lanes provided by our local government unit.
05:18 So the idea is that this becomes a main vein that will traverse local government units within Metro Manila that can be used by the public,
05:29 whether they will walk or ride a bicycle, and they can shift to the local government unit's normal routes.
05:36 If they want to ride a bike lane, if they want to ride a pedestrian lane, if they want to shift into a jeepney or buses.
05:43 Also, our ferry system is still working. If they want to shift to the ferry system, we are really promoting intermodal, inter modes of transportation.
05:55 We can see that you can now imagine in the NCR that you can start walking, riding a bicycle, you can ride a ferry, you can ride a bus and trains.
06:06 So that's one of the major aspects of our development is to create that main vein that will traverse, that will become another mode of transportation.
06:15 In the ferry, we can see that there were ferries before, but sometimes it's not tourist-friendly.
06:23 If it's not in other countries, it's part of the tour because it's beautiful, it's clear.
06:29 For example, in the Chao Praya River in Bangkok, of course, River Seine, River Thames, I mean all of those.
06:36 There are river cruises.
06:37 There are river cruises. When will we have that?
06:40 That's what we are talking about. We will develop the 25-kilometer stretch that will be developed via proposals from the private sector.
06:52 That's what we are talking about in our interagency council, how to put forth proposals from the private sector, where they will lead with their technical resources
07:01 and their financial resources. We will give them a token for the nine segments.
07:06 The nine segments in our master plan are aligned with the localities.
07:12 So it has a master plan, but at the same time, we are making sure that it is aligned with the landmarks and tourist features and economic and commercial features of the locality.
07:21 So there is a big plan, but when it comes to the localities, where your segment will be, it should be aligned with the local community.
07:30 That's what we are looking at. It might be a long term plan.
07:34 But more importantly, while we are doing that, while we are working towards bringing the private sector's capital into this project,
07:44 we will make sure that the connectivity will continue. We will prioritize food traffic and connectivity of our inter-LGUs so that the private sector can see that
07:56 Pasig River Urban Development is starting and people are using it. There's food traffic and interest so they can see how they can plan the development of each segment.
08:07 And let me just say congratulations. Six months after the issue of Executive Order No. 35, we saw that the result is very significant.
08:18 Yes. So how was this done? And how many more years will it take before this project is completed?
08:25 First of all, Ma'am Inge, thank you very much for your congratulations.
08:30 We have already done it, but there are many more things that we need to do. Our Interagency Council is continuing to help, including all its members,
08:39 especially our MMDA, DALG and especially the DNR. Ma'am let me just say, this Pasig River Urban Development, because we have fellow citizens living along the danger areas,
08:53 along the river banks. The program is to make sure that we bring them into more sustainable, more safe settlement.
09:02 As part of this Pasig River Urban Development, we are also proposing to put up housing settlements for our citizens who will be affected by this program.
09:13 But what we will do is to prioritize the areas that are not built or erected as settlements. We will do it simultaneously.
09:28 While we are building settlements in the PPA and PCG area, we have identified and while we are developing settlements on the other end, in the land of rent,
09:39 we will be the ones to build all of them. So we are working, we are in close coordination with the DNR. We are trying to proclaim the identified housing sites
09:49 that will be permanent sites for our citizens to lower the price. Because in our EO35, we have Executive Order No. 24, where it says that our government-idled lands should be allocated
10:06 to the PPA for the Filipino Housing Program. So if we put government-idled lands, we will lower the price of our houses, which will be transferred to our citizens
10:18 who live in the danger areas along the Pasig River Bank. So all of these are connectivity. Maybe in two to three years, but all of these projects that we are looking for proposals,
10:30 it will come in phases. Maybe until the term of our President, these segments, the development will end.
10:37 I hope that our development will continue so that our countrymen will see that we are not only good at the beginning, but we can continue this program moving forward.
10:47 We are interested in the post office because you mentioned that the post office has lights and it is open from 6 o'clock to 10 o'clock.
10:57 What is the plan of our government in the post office? I heard that it will be a hotel. What is the long-term plan for the post office?
11:06 This post office is not a part of our interagency of Pasig River Urban Development. It is behind us, our river bank.
11:18 At this point, we just make sure that it is well-lit so that we are able to attract people. We are able to make sure that the safety of our visitors by the showcase area is ensured.
11:28 Well, we're very excited. Maybe someone is listening to us now in the post office because we saw that there was a huge flood.
11:38 And now we have a chance to do something about it, make it better. Some are suggesting doing a museum or multifunctional.
11:45 It can be a hotel, museum, or restaurant. So, hopefully, it can be started.
11:51 Yeah, it looks like there is a master plan of the postal corporation.
11:55 Our parameter on our side when we develop the showcase area is to make sure that it is compatible with the post office so that it will not contract.
12:05 In fact, our showcase area design will complement with the post office. What will be the future plans for this?
12:12 Yes. Yusex, what do you think is the impact of this project on the economy and tourism in our country?
12:21 And what are the steps for our fellow citizens who live on the banks of the Pasig River?
12:27 But I think that there are not many people on the Pasig River. The tributaries of the Pasig River are the majority of the people who live on the river.
12:36 In terms of impact, PDG, first of all, we will have a major transportation vein that will cut across local governments of NGA.
12:53 This is a big thing because we will see that we don't have to rely on our familiar routes.
13:00 We have a route that can be longer, shorter, we can walk or cycle. We will see that we can enter and exit this route from the riverbanks and we will enter our road in LG.
13:14 First of all, it will give our citizens, our NCR residents a level of mobility that will not waste their time. So we will have individual efficiency. That's number one.
13:27 On top of that, in the riverbanks, we believe that the food traffic that it will attract will create economic value, will create commercial activities,
13:36 and therefore it will become a new tax base for the local government units and also for the national government agencies involved.
13:44 We can use this as a maintainer for our project and to make sure that it will be continuously maintained and our citizens can use it continuously.
13:56 We are seeing a lot of ADG, aside from economic, commercial, increase of land values of real estate surrounding the area.
14:07 Another big thing that Pasig River Urban Development can bring is that the number of Pasig River users will continue to increase, the number of Pasig River stakeholders will continue to increase,
14:20 the number of Pasig River partners will continue to increase. It means that the government does not have to maintain the cleanliness of the Pasig River.
14:28 All of our stakeholders will have a level of awareness that Pasig River is a living example. If this happens, it will give NCR a level of climate resilience that will not just flood us.
14:42 In terms of climate resilience, in terms of making sure that we are resilient in the fight against flooding,
14:50 and we know that when it rains and there is a typhoon in our country, we will have a river that we can expect to be saved from the flood.
14:59 Usec, what do you think is the reason for choosing Dissoud as the head of the Interagency Council for the Pasig River Urban Development?
15:10 And how is your coordination with other member agencies? The last time we had the MMDA.
15:17 As I mentioned earlier, the approach is slightly different. The rehabilitation of Pasig River will be anchored on urban development.
15:28 It will be anchored on creating activities. It will be anchored on bringing in the private sector. It will be anchored on promoting stakeholdership.
15:36 It will be anchored on bringing in communities. So because of that approach, this is what we were given in urban development.
15:46 Because DHSUD, we are not just in charge of human settlement development, housing, but we are also in charge of urban development.
15:53 We are just a bit new in this job, 2019. So we are taking this as a challenge. We will show that if we are able to maximize the potential of urban areas,
16:05 specifically this Pasig River, we will see that it is more important. It's a way to make sure that our Pasig River is important.
16:15 But ma'am, I would like to add that there is no continuous water cleaning to make sure that the quality of the water is good.
16:23 Because here in our interagency council, DNR is still involved. Their efforts to clean the Pasig River are still ongoing.
16:31 We are still working with PCG to maintain the Pasig River. And the MMDA is still not tired of cleaning the areas that they are concerned with.
16:38 Thank you very much.
16:44 Thank you very much for your time and for that update. Good luck. Join us in the Pasig Rehabilitation Project under Secretary Avelino Tolentino of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development or DSUD. Thank you.
17:01 Thank you very much, Ma'am Nia and thank you very much, APG Jonathan. Thank you very much. Good afternoon to all of you.
