09/01/2025
SMC completes cleanup of Pampanga River
By Miguel Alfonso
SAN Miguel Corporation (SMC) recorded another win in its ambitious effort to help mitigate flooding throughout Luzon, as it recently completed its extensive Pampanga River cleanup effort, with the removal of close to 700,000 tons of silt and solid wastes.
From mid-August to December, SMC removed some 694,372 cubic meters of silt and solid waste from 26.3 kilometers of the Pampanga River, as part of its long-running “Better Rivers Ph” initiative.
The project, led by SMC Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang and done at no cost to government and taxpayers, also effectively deepened the river’s channels and improved water flow out to Manila Bay.
“Flooding is a major issue for our cities and provinces, with many contributing factors. For our part, we’re committed to do what we can to clean up our river systems and help government and our communities,” said Ang.
He emphasized the importance of cleaning up the Pampanga River: “The Pampanga River is a major waterway in Central Luzon. Waters from here go to many other provinces, including Bulacan, which is downstream.”
“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,” said Ang.
In Macabebe, a riverside fishing town in Pampanga, Vice Mayor Vince Flores says the dredging of the Pampanga River represents more than just a cleanup.
“It’s a lifeline for a town burdened by its role as a natural catch basin,” Flores said in an interview last November. “Floodwaters from Nueva Ecija and San Fernando end up here. Before this (river cleanup), it took days, even weeks, for water to recede. Now, with deeper channels, the flood subsides faster.”
The effort, he said, is crucial not only for mitigating floods but also for reviving the local economy, citing how silt extracted from the river has been used to fortify their dikes and coastal roads.
The vice mayor said some of the silt is used as paving materials to elevate critical public infrastructure in Macabebe, like schools.
The Pampanga River cleanup adds to SMC’s list of completed river initiatives, following its massive cleanup of Bulacan River systems last year, where it extracted over 4.31 million metric tons (M/T) of silt and waste from 74.5 km of rivers.
These include major waterways such as the Taliptip-Maycapiz-Bambang, Meycauayan, Marilao, Mailad-Sta. Maria, Guiguinto, Balagtas, Pamarawan, Kalero, and Labangan-Angat Rivers.
Overall, Better Rivers PH, launched in 2020, has already covered a total of 156.42 km of waterways, extracting a total of 8,348,440 M/T of silt and solid wastes as of January 2, 2025.
This includes 1.12 M/T removed from 10.9 km of Tullahan River; 1.18 M/T from 26 km of Pasig River; 322,739 M/T from 7.61 km of San Juan River; and 417,044 M/T from 5.3 km of San Pedro River — on top of its Bulacan and Pampanga cleanups and other ongoing efforts in Metro Manila and south Luzon.
Ang underscored how SMC’s commitment to cleaning up major rivers bears the company’s time-honored value of “malasakit,” recognizing how Filipinos living in coastal communities would be protected in terms of economic and safety risks.
“As an added benefit, our Better Rivers PH cleanup enables safer operations of water ferries like along Pasig River, and even improves water quality — and people say it reduces foul odors, and, of course, it restores marine ecosystems,” Ang said. “So, it really makes us happy to continue providing this service to the Filipino people.”
