Tiny Nicole H. Bartolome, @kaaksyon_tiny BAJ 3A | PublicAksyon Posted on October 7, 2022
On September 17, volunteers from different public and private organizations took part in a coastal
cleanup at Manila's Dolomite Beach to honor the International Coastal Clean-Up Day. 📷 ABS-CBN News
MANILA, Philippines — In celebration of International Coastal Cleanup Day 2022 with the theme "Fighting for Trash Free Seas-Pilipinas: Ending the Flow of Trash at the Source,'' the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led the coastal cleanup of the Manila Baywalk Dolomite Beach on September 17.
Over 4,000 volunteers participated in the cleanup activity, including those from different government agencies, private organizations, and individuals who came to the Baywalk's coastline with their own trash bags.
Along with them, the Philippines' Dragon Boat Federation, Manila Water Company, and Maynilad Water Services Inc. took part in the activity.
At least 4,500 sacks of trash were gathered by volunteers. The majority of the trash they have collected, according to Rodelina de Villa, Director of the DENR-Metropolitan Environmental Office West OIC, is made up of plastic waste, dried water hyacinth, and marine debris.
1,500 trash bags came from the DENR-National Capital Region, which comprises the DENR-MEO West, while 3,000 of the 4,500 sacks came from the DENR Central Office through the Manila Bay Coordinating Office (MBCO).
The PCG also said that 310 people in total, including representatives from the PCG, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and other organizations, participated in the event.
According to the Presidential Proclamation No. 470 issued by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on September 15, 2003, which urges people to clean up beaches of debris that clogs them up, International Coastal Cleanup Day is commemorated every third Saturday of September of each year.
The recent event with a detailed theme is one of eight campaigns that DENR is holding in Metro Manila in observance of ICC Day.
The Manila City administration, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine Army (PA), Philippine Air Force (PAF), Philippine National Police (PNP), PNP-Maritime Group, and Philippine Coast Guard are among the private and public institutions that provided additional trash bags for the coastal cleanup operation.
The cleanup effort at the Dolomite Beach, Manila Bay, was organized in connection with the 121st PCG Anniversary by CG RADM ROBERT N PATRIMONIO, Commander, Marine Environmental Protection Command.
The Philippine Coast Guard participated in the cleanup drive on the coast of Manila Bay. 📷 PCG
The fifteen (15) MEPFORCES and other Metro Manila locations, including Dolomite Beach, SM by the Bay, Escolta Ferry Station, and Lawton Ferry Station, participated in this nationwide cleanup initiative. The Office of the DCCGS for MEP, CG9, Coast Guard District NCR-CL, and other Coast Guard units are also included.
While Manila Mayor Sheila "Honey" Lacuna, Manila police officers, and other volunteers concentrated their efforts at Baseco Beach near Manila's port area, members of the Philippine Coast Guard roamed the bay and collected waste from its waters.
(Video courtesy of Youtube: UNTV News and Rescue)
''However big and daunting the task is, we can make a difference by bringing communities and people together to clean up beaches. Proof of this is organizations and individuals coming together at the Baywalk Dolomite Beach,'' de Villa added.
De Villa stated that the Manila Baywalk is an example of the cross-sector cooperation required to reduce coastal trash through targeted beach cleanup operations.
According to information provided by the DENR-MEO-West, which is in charge of supervising the preservation of the 500-meter beach promenade, 147,939 sacks of solid garbage were collected during cleanup efforts that took place from July 12 to September 14.
A total of 83,109 water hyacinth sacks, including 2,224 sacks of marine debris, were also collected during the time period.
According to the Earth Island Institute, they were able to gather more than 20 sacks of plastic debris. The group explained that as a result of people being less mobile due to the COVID-19 epidemic, there was an increase in the usage of plastic in the transportation of goods, which contributed to the growth of plastic garbage.
Additionally, it stated that lots of old test kits and face masks had been collected, adding that "the amount of medical waste that is not properly collected is concerning."
However, Dolomite Beach, which some people criticized for being an unnecessarily expensive project under the DENR's supervision, was the only location in Manila Bay that effectively demonstrated the significance of the environmental activity being commemorated on Saturday.
The organization invited the public to participate in the cleanup in a "public advisory" posted on its Facebook page on Saturday.
When contacted for comment, Leones stated that this "aims to help clean our seas and oceans through volunteering and emphasize their life-giving importance to humans."
On Facebook and other social media sites, unfortunately, the post received negative feedback.
One user wrote, "You spent millions on the dolomite, then it would be the Filipino people who ended up cleaning."
Break Free From Plastic's global coordinator, Von Hernandez, stated: “We can’t be spending millions of resources yearly without effectively addressing the roots of the problem.”
“[I]t's a better investment for the government to [just] compel producers and companies to reduce and stop the production of single-use plastics and invest in proven reusable and ... refill[ing] systems,” Hernandez added.
Dolomite Beach. 📷 DENR
The project, which officially began in the pandemic year of 2020, was hailed by President Rodrigo Duterte's previous administration as a way to ease Filipinos' mental health during the pandemic lockdowns.
Benny Antiporda, then-undersecretary of the environment and current administrator of the National Irrigation Administration, supported the plan and even claimed that the funding was "not enough" to improve the bay's water.
Over 30 years have passed since the creation of the International Coastal Cleanup Day. It was established by Linda Maraniss and Kathy O'Hara, who were both employed by the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental organization that specializes in creating laws and regulations at the federal and local levels.
The goal of September 16's International Coastal Cleanup Day is to make nature as a whole cleaner and purer. Also, its goal is to increase public awareness of the growing pollution on the world's beaches.
The Ocean Conservancy organized the first International Clean Up Day in 1986 with the help of other organizations and volunteers.
Since its founding, the movement has come a long way; it is now thought that there are at least six million volunteers who help with clean-up in more than 90 different nations.
At least twenty-three million (23,000,000) pounds of debris from beaches and coastlines were reportedly removed in 2018.
In order to preserve the aesthetic beauty of our ocean and consequently safeguard the ecology sustaining marine life, DENR continues to advocate for coastal communities to be responsible in how they dispose of their waste.
In a single day in 2018, more than one million volunteers from all around the world cleared 23 million pounds of waste from waterways and coasts.
Groups dedicated to ocean conservation not only fix up the coastlines but also inform the public about the value of maintaining them. Join a Surfrider Foundation Chapter if you want to contribute in some way. If you don't live by a body of water, you can still clean the shorelines of local lakes and rivers. Promote the preservation of clean rivers. Discover why it's so crucial to keep garbage out of the seas and other water bodies.
Keywords:
International Coastal Cleanup Day
DENR
Coastal cleanup
Manila Baywalk
Dolomite Beach
Volunteers
Garbage
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