Iloilo City funds first Jaro River boundary survey since 1920

ILOILO CITY — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources Western Visayas (DENR-6) will conduct a cadastral line delineation survey of the Jaro River, the first in more than a century, to establish the river’s legal boundaries, identify encroachments, and support flood mitigation efforts.

The Iloilo City government signed a memorandum of agreement with DENR-6 on Thursday, Nov. 12, giving the agency one year to complete the survey.

The city government will fully fund the project at PHP 6,028,860.

The survey will cover the river’s entire stretch, from the Pavia boundary to its mouth at the Iloilo Strait in Barangay Hinactacan, La Paz.

The initiative revives a long-delayed project first proposed during the administration of former Mayor Jerry Treñas, when the city government and the DENR Central Office were supposed to split the PHP 6 million cost, with each providing PHP 3 million.

That funding arrangement did not materialize, stalling the project for several years until the current administration committed to shouldering the entire cost.

Armin Halili of the DENR-6 Community Environment and Natural Resources Office said the last recorded cadastral line delineation survey of the Jaro River was conducted in 1920.

Halili said the new survey would establish the river’s legal easements, which determine the areas that must remain accessible for public use and free of prohibited permanent structures.

“The purpose of this, just like what we did in the Iloilo River from 2009 to 2011, from the port area to Oton through the Batiano River, is to delineate the three-, 20-, and 40-meter easements,” Halili said.

Under Article 51 of the Water Code of the Philippines, or Presidential Decree 1067 of 1976, and applicable DENR regulations, the banks of rivers and streams, and the shores of seas and lakes, are subject to a legal easement of public use.

For covered rivers and streams, the easement is generally measured landward from the edge of the normal high-water line. The standard widths are 3 meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas, and 40 meters in forest areas.

The easement is reserved for public purposes such as recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing, and salvage. No person may stay in the zone longer than necessary for those purposes or build structures there.

Halili said identifying the easements would allow authorities to determine whether informal settlements and other structures are obstructing access to the river, particularly during dredging and rehabilitation operations.

“If we can identify whether there are informal settlers or structures obstructing the easements, it will be easier to conduct dredging because backhoes and other heavy equipment can enter the area more easily. Unlike now where access is restricted and limited,” he said.

He also linked informal settlements and riverbank encroachments to increased siltation, which reduces the river’s capacity to carry water flowing down from upland areas.

“When the river becomes shallow because of siltation, it can no longer accommodate the volume of water coming from the mountains. The water overflows and results in flooding,” Halili said.

He cited the Iloilo River and Oton as examples of areas where river interventions have helped address flooding.

Although historical records and available resources may be limited, Halili said the DENR could establish the river’s original boundaries by examining the technical descriptions of landowners’ properties in cadastral records.

These descriptions would be plotted and verified on the ground to determine the river’s original width and whether changes resulted from encroachment, erosion, or accretion, he said.

The Jaro River is the downstream continuation of the Tigum River after the Tigum and Aganan rivers converge at Barangay Ungka in Pavia.

The combined waterway flows into Iloilo City, straddling several barangays in the Jaro and La Paz districts, before emptying into the Iloilo Strait at Barangay Hinactacan.

Counting informal settlers

Apart from establishing the river’s legal boundaries, the survey is expected to help the city government identify households occupying danger zones and determine which families may need relocation.

“The Jaro River delineation survey will give us a clear picture of where the river is situated, how much silt has accumulated, and how many houses are located in the silted portions,” said Peter Jason Millare, head of the Iloilo City Local Housing Office.

Millare said the information would be important in identifying informal settler families living in danger zones, particularly as the city implements its Comprehensive Iloilo City Local Housing Code of 2026.

He estimated that 500 to 1,000 informal settler families could be living along the river.

However, he stressed that only the survey could establish the actual number and location of affected households.

“It would be better if we have the actual survey to obtain accurate data. How can we determine whether a house is in a danger zone or along the river if the city government itself does not have a clear understanding of the river’s boundaries?” he said.

Treñas-Chu, who succeeded her father as mayor in 2025, said the city would use the survey’s findings to plan flood mitigation and river rehabilitation programs.

“We need accurate data to properly plan our flood mitigation measures, river rehabilitation, and possible relocation of affected families,” she said.

Treñas-Chu acknowledged that funding issues had stalled the project.

“For several years, this project was delayed because of funding concerns. But when I assumed office, I instructed our team to find a way to fund the entire survey rather than wait any longer,” she said.