Philippines: Marikina Supports Anti Flooding Campaign

The local government of Marikina is inviting its residents to join its fun run to strengthen the city’s campaign against flooding.

The fun run, entitled “Del Run (Save the Marikina Watershed),” is set to take place on April 28, 5 a.m. at the Marikina Sports Park. Categories include a five, 10 and 21 kilometer run.

Marikina City Mayor Del de Guman said the project aims to raise funds to restore the 27,000-hectare Marikina Watershed.

“At its current state, there are not enough trees to prevent soil erosion which caused the Marikina River to become shallow and cause flooding in the city,” de Guzman said.

De Guzman encourages participants to invite their relatives and friends to join the run and raise more funds for the watershed’s rehabilitation.

Registration fee for the 5k and 10k categories is P400 and the 21k category is P500.

Del Run is expected to gather 5,000 runners. Funds raised will be used to plant the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) 100,000 robusta coffee seedlings.

Meanwhile, the inaugural Del Run held in 2012 lured 3,000 participants and managed to raise P980,000. The funds collected were used to plant different varieties of trees like Narra, Dao, and Molave, among others at the watershed.

5,000 forest trees have been already planted and additional 1,000 tree seedlings are set to be planted in the coming months.

The funds are also being used to pay the shed caretakers’ salaries from December 2012 to December 2015.

Other flood prevention projects like river dikes construction, dredging activities at the Marikina River and road construction easy access to the Marikina Watershed are also planned to combat perennial flooding.

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Press Release, April 25, 2013