THE City of Manila broke a record set two years ago in the number of volunteers who turned up at Manila Bay on Saturday morning for the 32nd International Coastal Cleanup Day.
As of 9 a.m., 10,849 volunteers turned up at the Baywalk along Roxas Boulevard to pick up trash and marine debris from Manila Bay’s shoreline, according to Belle Borromeo, chief of the city’s Department of Public Services leading the cleanup.
During the 2015 ICC Day in Manila, Mayor Joseph Estrada led 8,351 volunteers and 700 Manila City Hall employees, who were later joined by 1,000 others from 20 private groups, in cleaning up the Baywalk area along Roxas Boulevard. About 372 cubic meters of waste were collected that day.
The volunteers came mostly from various schools, colleges, and universities in and outside Manila and corporations such as Asian Terminals, Inc., Petron, Magsaysay Group of Companies, Manila Hotel, Rizal Park Hotel, Toyota Motor Philippines, San Miguel Corp., Samsung Philippines, Republic Cement, and Unilever Philippines, among others.
Speaking on behalf of Estrada, City Administrator Ericson Alcovendaz said the City of Manila is proud to have hosted this all-volunteer coastal cleanup activity done simultaneously worldwide.
“On behalf of Mayor Estrada and the people of the City of Manila, we would like to express our most profound gratitude to all volunteers who are here this morning in an effort to clean our famous Manila Bay,” Alcovendaz said.
Through ICC, he said people have learned to take care of the world’s seas, oceans, and waterways even as many others have remained undisciplined in the proper garbage disposal.
“We still have a lot of countrymen who don’t follow the correct way of disposing their garbage. They still throw trash on our streets and into our rivers, seas and esteros,” Alcovendaz lamented.
With the ICC Day 2017’s theme “Together for Our Ocean,” Alcovendaz called on Filipinos to “renew our commitment and cooperation so that we may succeed in our mission to rescue our oceans, rivers, and waterways, and preserve them for the next generations.”
Employees of various government offices were also present such as Department of Education-Manila, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mimaropa, Department of Public Works and Highways-NCR, and Department of Tourism, as well as Rotary Clubs of Makati and Neopolitan.
The Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, and Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary also made their presence felt in the event.
Various offices from the City Hall of Manila and the Manila Police District also sent representatives to the cleanup operation.
Held every third Saturday of September, ICC is the largest volunteer effort for the ocean and waterways initiated in 1986 by Ocean Conservancy, a non-government organization based in Washington, DC, to engage volunteers in collecting marine debris from the world’s waterways.
Around 90 countries, including the Philippines, regularly participate in this event.
The Philippines canceled its coastal cleanup day activities on Sept. 17 last year due to the declaration of state of lawlessness by the national government.