San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has restarted its river cleanup operations in Bulacan to prevent flooding, focusing on major waterways that drain into Manila Bay and surround the New Manila International Airport (NMIA) site.
The company previously completed a large-scale cleanup from 2022 to 2024, removing more than 4.15 million metric tons of silt and waste from 74 kilometers of rivers at no cost to the government.
SMC chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said that in the last 10 months, crews have cleared over 500,000 tons of silt and waste from a nine-kilometer stretch of the Maycapiz-Taliptip and Bambang rivers. These waterways, once only knee-deep, are now more than three meters deep. Another 91,000 tons have been removed from 3.3 kilometers of the Bagumbayan River.
Ang emphasized that maintenance dredging is needed to preserve the improved flow and increased carrying capacity of the rivers, especially since they play a crucial role in draining floodwaters from eastern Bulacan into Manila Bay. Heavy rains and multiple typhoons last year caused fresh silt buildup, prompting SMC to resume cleanup work.
Before SMC’s interventions, decades of accumulated silt had severely clogged major rivers, worsening flooding in low-lying Bulacan communities such as Guiguinto, Marilao, Balagtas, Bocaue, and Meycauayan. The NMIA site itself was long submerged and used as fishponds due to shallow surrounding waters.
SMC also previously cleaned upstream tributaries and rivers in western Bulacan, including parts of Malolos, the Angat-Labangan River, and the Pampanga River. However, towns like Hagonoy and Malolos still face flooding when the Angat Dam overflows.
The company noted that Bulacan’s flooding problem is complex, driven by rising sea levels, land subsidence, rapid urbanization, and inadequate drainage. Ang said long-term solutions will require cooperation among government, private companies, and local communities.
