MMDA conducts clearing ops at Maypajo Creek; settlers given 15 days to self-demolish

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority on Friday inspected Maypajo Creek in Manila and gave informal settlers encroaching on the estero 15 days to self-demolish their own structures, according to a report on Balitanghali by Mark Salazar.

If the informal settlers do not demolish the structures in time, the MMDA said the Manila City Engineering Office will enforce the demolition.

MMDA chairman Danny Lim led the inspection of the area which has been pinpointed as a cause of flooding on R. Papa Street during the rainy season. Garbage chokes part of the 1.8-kilometer creek, making it difficult for pumping stations to work and ensure the water goes straight to Manila Bay.

Some 104,000 families live beside the railway tracks and the creek, and their garbage goes straight to the waterway, the MMDA said. 

Lim said he plans to bring up the matter to the Metro Manila Council to address the problem of informal settlers.

The MMDA also demolished concrete slabs found covering a part of the creek to allow the smooth dredging of the waterway before the rainy season.

Its special operations team towed vehicles parked on the concrete slabs on top of the creek.

Tension arose after a member of the MMDA special operations team was allegedly threatened with a gun by a resident who owned one of the towed vehicles.

MMDA special operations team commander Bong Nebrija confronted the resident, who in turn denied he made a threat.

The MMDA said it will study the possibility of filing a case against the resident.

Metro Manila has 580 kilometers of open waterways, the same distance as Manila to Baguio City and back.

Thirty percent of those open waterways are clogged due to encroachment by informal settlers, MMDA said. —KG, GMA News