N Insights
By Doc Ian Mark Q. Nacaya
Perspectives on Leadership and Community Life
Cagayan de Oro’s future is inseparable from its river.
The Cagayan de Oro River is an economic, environmental, cultural, and social asset. But it is also part of a river basin where decisions made upstream can have serious consequences downstream. Flooding, erosion, watershed degradation, quarrying, deforestation, settlements in hazard-prone areas, and changing rainfall patterns cannot be addressed by Cagayan de Oro City alone.
For many years, the Cagayan de Oro River Basin Management Council has provided an important venue for cooperation among government agencies, local governments, civil society, the private sector, academe, and other stakeholders. The DENR played a major role in organizing this collaborative mechanism, while the private sector and the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro have likewise contributed significantly to keeping river basin concerns in the public agenda.
The problem is not the absence of people willing to work. The problem is institutional weakness.
A coordinating council can convene meetings, formulate recommendations, and mobilize stakeholders. But without a strong statutory mandate, permanent technical machinery, dedicated personnel, and predictable funding, its ability to implement long-term programs remains limited.
This is why the time may have come for Congress to institutionalize a Cagayan de Oro River Basin Management Board or an Authority through Executive Issuance.
Such an institution should not simply create another layer of bureaucracy. It should unify what is presently fragmented.
The river does not recognize political boundaries. Water flowing from the uplands eventually reaches downstream communities and Macajalar Bay. Consequently, watershed rehabilitation, flood mitigation, land-use planning, riverbank protection, water-resource management, solid-waste control, biodiversity conservation, and disaster-risk reduction must be approached as one interconnected system – from ridge to river to reef.
A permanent River Basin Management Board should therefore have a clear mandate to coordinate national agencies and affected LGUs; prepare and continuously update an integrated river basin master plan; establish measurable performance indicators; maintain scientific and hydrological data; monitor projects and environmental conditions; and recommend or implement priority interventions.
Most importantly, it must have access to dedicated and continuing funding.
River rehabilitation cannot depend on occasional projects or the availability of external grants. Maintaining the river and its tributaries requires continuing investment in what I would call the 3Rs – rehabilitation, restoration, and resilience. This includes watershed rehabilitation, riverbank restoration, drainage and tributary management, flood-control measures, reforestation, monitoring systems, and community-based environmental protection.
There are already legislative initiatives seeking stronger institutional protection for the Cagayan de Oro River Basin. These efforts deserve serious consideration by Congress. But whatever institutional structure is ultimately adopted, it should preserve one of the greatest strengths of the existing council: multi-sectoral participation.
Government must provide the authority and resources, but the private sector, Church, academe, indigenous and upland communities, civil society, and people’s organizations should remain meaningful partners.
Our experience with Typhoon Sendong taught us that river basin management is not merely an environmental concern. It is about human lives, public safety, economic security, and the future of the city.
We should therefore move from a largely coordinating arrangement toward a permanent institution with authority, accountability, technical capability, measurable targets, and funding.
The Cagayan de Oro River has shaped the history and growth of our city. Protecting it and protecting our people from the risks arising throughout its basin, should no longer depend mainly on voluntary coordination and goodwill.
It deserves an institution built to endure.
Author’s byline
Dr. Ian Mark Q. Nacaya is a public administration scholar, urban governance practitioner, and former six-term City Councilor of Cagayan de Oro City. He also served as a two-time Sectoral Representative to the City Council – first as SK City Federation President and later as Liga ng mga Barangay President, and was a three-term Majority Floor Leader. He is the Founder of NACAYA Public-SectoralDev Insights Consulting and serves as a graduate school professor in public administration courses. His work focuses on sustainable urban development, resilient local governance, climate adaptation, innovation in governance, and people-centered public policy.
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