Listed Asian Terminals Inc., the Philippines’ major trade enabler, has joined hands with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other stakeholders in support of government’s urgent task of cleaning Metro Manila’s major waterways.
ATI recently signed up for DENR’s Adapt an Estero Waterbody Program, making the Manila South Harbor port operator among the private sector sponsors who will commit resources for the three-year project to achieve a cleaner, safer and healthier Manila Bay environment.
As partner, ATI will support the program’s major activities which include dredging, regular shore clean-ups, education information campaigns, mangrove and tree planting, construction of communal septic tank, water quality monitoring, among others in areas within and adjacent to Barangay 649, otherwise known as Baseco.
Meanwhile, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission finished clearing a sea of trash formed at Baseco district — the confluence point of Pasig River and Manila Bay — this weekend.
According to PRRC’s “river warriors,” it took them 10 days, including weekends, to collect more than 30,000 kilograms of garbage.
“The horrifying sight of the ‘dagat ng basura’ formed at Baseco right after a massive cleanup operation at Parola proved that we also need to empower our communities to manage their wastes so they can also be a part of the solution in rehabilitating the Pasig River and Manila Bay,” said PRRC Executive Director Jose Antonio E. Goitia.
Goitia called on local government units to supply their communities with enough segregated trash bins and to intensify their garbage collection to supplement their ecological solid waste management educational campaigns.
The PRRC thanked Manila Mayor Isko Moreno for helping transport the collected garbage to a sanitary landfill.