Secretary Roy Cimatu of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) could not keep his hands off the problem anymore. And so he called the mayors of all 18 municipalities of Antique for a conference on a widespread problem afflicting its rivers – siltation that has resulted in the flooding of certain barangays. The only way the rivers could be rehabilitated is through dredging. Only one mayor, Francisco “Bebong” Baladjay, Jr. of Laua-an rose to say that his Sangguniang Bayan (SB) had already passed a resolution calling for the immediate rehabilitation of its river system. In fact, the municipal government had already inked a memorandum of agreement with the DENR, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to collaborate in the rehabilitation that would address the siltation problem.

Vego, H. (2020, January 1 - 2). Alarming river siltation in Antique. Panay News, pp. 9, 15.