Pasig River ‘Sky Way’

Ramon Ang looked at the Pasig River and saw another “sky way.”

You looked at it and saw a dirty river.

This is why Ramon Ang is a billionaire and you are standing in line for a jeepney.

Filipinos complained the Pasig was dead. We dredged its filth, we hauled its garbage out. Brought the ferries back. We celebrated when we caught tilapia.

Tilapia. From the Pasig River. And people eat them. Unbelievable. The rich have farm-to-table? We have toilet-to-table. Very sustainable. Very circular economy. What went into the river from one’s end in Manila eventually came out with toyomansi at the other end in Sta. Ana.

We built an esplanade. Very sentimental. People came. Couples held hands, sharing one drink thinking they’re Romeo and Juliet, watching the sun go down with P37 left in GCash. The sunset is free. This was extremely important to both of them.

Imagine being this happy beside an imburnal, a sewer. Try explaining the economics of it to a billionaire.

Two people could sit there for four hours, spend practically nothing, and leave happier than when they arrived. Some even bring their own water. Imagine occupying waterfront property and refusing to even buy a beverage!!?

They’re taking selfies. Making memories. Memories! Do memories pay toll? Can memories carry 60,000 vehicles a day?

That’s not how you do business.

Look at all that sky. Nothing in it. Embarrassing. And underneath it, water. More wasted space.

In fairness to San Miguel, it undertook a P2-billion Pasig River cleanup. They dredged it. Hauled out more than a million tons of silt and garbage.

Some people would stop there. A nation-builder looks up. An expressway. Boom! That’s aftercare.

You don’t clean a river and simply walk away. What kind of quitter does that? Finish the job! The Pasig has been sitting on prime Metro Manila real estate! In the middle of one of the most congested cities on earth! Nineteen kilometers. Do you know what land costs here?

What is this sentimental nonsense about letting a river simply flow? Flow where? For what?

San Miguel’s Parex will fix the Pasig River’s embarrassing joblessness.

And by this logic, we’ve been wasting plenty of other things too. The tree must justify its shade, the park must justify its grass. Manila Bay is wasted reclamation. Luneta is a condominium that hasn’t met the right billionaire.

Roughly 19 kilometers. Six lanes. Elevated. Along the Pasig River. People complained it would cover the river. Fake news! Ramon said it won’t. It’ll run along the banks. Six lanes. Four would not sufficiently communicate our contempt for open space.

The public complained. Naturally. When Pasig River tilapia is circulating through your bloodstream, eventually some of it reaches the brain.

You start having thoughts. What about the river! What about the environment! Where were all the passionate environmentalists when the Pasig smelled like a toilet? Cleaning it, probably. Never mind.

“The river belongs to everyone.”

Beautiful. Does everyone have an RFID? This is nation-building. Profitable nation-building. This isn’t charity for Filipino motorists. This is a toll road.

Eventually Parex was put on hold. Almost even canceled. Ramon had said San Miguel would no longer pursue it. But it was never canceled. As of September, the government’s PPP Center still listed Parex as in “pre-construction.”

That is why nothing gets done here.

Hey, Ramon. Leave. You tried. And this is how they thank you?

These people are impossible, Ramon. Go somewhere they appreciate vision. Somewhere a river can wake up every morning, look up and see the elevated toll expressway it was always meant to flow under.

They don’t deserve you, Ramon. They deserve the jeepney.