Lawyers belonging to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are offering free legal counseling to volunteers who have helped in a clean-up activity along esteros in Barangay Sipac Almacen, Navotas City.
To encourage more people to join the cleanup, the agency’s Legal Affairs Service, headed by director Norlito Eneran, said they have established a legal clinic wherein participating residents could avail of free legal service.
The activity has a theme of “Payo pang-legal ang alay ko, ‘pag basura mo linisin mo.”
“Participants were given a coupon for every sack of garbage collected, which entitled them to free legal counseling,” Eneran said.
He said the legal team is composed of lawyers from the DENR Lawyers Guild Inc., Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Malabon-Navotas chapter and the Public Attorney’s Office in Quezon City.
The agency’s Legal Affairs Service led the cleanup drive as part of the overall effort to clean up the Manila Bay.
Barangay Sipac Almacen is known as the seat of power of Navotas and is bounded on the west by Manila Bay and in the east by the “highly polluted” Malabon-Navotas River.
“Our agency will take the lead role in the Battle for Manila Bay which, Secretary Roy Cimatu assessed, has to being with the battle for the rivers and esteros that drain into Manila Bay,” said Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo for Administration, Finance, Human.
”I commend director Eneran for initiating this [legal] activity. I had availed the services of lawyers for legal problems but I never imagined engaging lawyers to clean the garbage of Manila Bay,” Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns Benny Antiporda, said.
