Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay on Saturday urged her constituents to become more responsible stewards of the environment, saying taking better care of it has a direct impact on everyone’s health and well-being.
“As adults and parents, we are our children’s role models in caring for the environment and observing proper sanitation. If kids see us dumping trash in the creeks and waterways, they will grow up thinking it’s the right thing to do. Simple things such as segregating garbage, recycling, and planting more trees have long lasting positive effects on both the environment and our health,” the city chief executive said.
The city´s Health department earlier kicked off a series of activities for this year’s celebration of Sanitation Month at Nicanor Garcia Elementary School in Barangay Olympia.
Some 600 schoolchildren and their parents were invited to attend a lecture on key topics like proper hand washing, solid waste and water management and diseases related to poor sanitation. The lectures were delivered by experts from Makati’s environmental sanitation team.
The students—from Kinder to Grade 3 levels—were receptive to the lessons imparted by Makati sanitation inspectors. Joel E. Zurbano
Parents were also reminded to practice garbage segregation, recycling, and proper disposal. Likewise, the sanitation officials reiterated the law banning plastics in markets as well as commercial establishments.
Engineer Felipe Albayda explained that when garbage is not disposed of properly in homes, offices and streets, they eventually end up in the city’s 15 waterways and onto the Pasig River.
He said trash-filled waterways impede the flow of water when it rains, and this leads to flooding. At the same time, dirty water becomes a breeding ground for various diseases such as leptospirosis, an illness caused by the presence of rat urine in flood waters.
Apart from continuous street clearing operations, the environmental sanitation teams will also be cleaning various waterways this July. They have also scheduled a series of lectures to train barangay leaders so communities can become more involved in the city’s efforts.
This Monday, some 600 participants from various barangays will attend a Leptospirosis Prevention and Control Management lecture at Makati City Hall.
On July 24, they will be rolling out the Basic Food Safety Training workshop to owners of canteens and food stalls. The next day, July 25, the Anti-Smoking Task Force will meet to discuss stricter implementation of existing laws on smoking.
On July 27″ª, 600 barangay leaders will attend the “Partnership for a Cause” lecture on the role of stakeholders in proper sanitation.
To close the activities for environmental sanitation month is a lecture on Zero Open Defecation which will be participated by 200 leaders from different barangays.
Mayor Binay recently called out food and retail business owners and operators who do not comply with the citywide plastic ban. The businessmen were urged to use environment-friendly materials for packaging and disposable dining utensils.