The Philippine Coast Guard and other local government and private individuals took part on the Dolomite Beach cleanup drive spearheaded by the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR). (Photo from the PCG)
MANILA一Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) has led Manila Baywalk Dolomite Beach clean up drive joined by over 4000 volunteers last September 17 that yielded 4500 sacks of garbage, in celebration of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day 2022.
Last Month, volunteers from government, private organizations, and private individuals gathered on the Dolomite Beach with their own garbage bags to clean along the coastline after a year of being open to the public.
The acting DENR-Metropolitan Environmental Office (MEO) West OIC Director Rodelina de Villa said “ the collected garbage consisted mostly of plastic wastes, dried water hyacinth, and marine debris.”
Maynilad Water Services Inc., Manila Water Company Inc., and the Dragon Boat Federation of the Philippines were also present at the said event.
According to De Villa, the sacks used by the volunteers were provided by different DENR offices including: the DENR Central Office through the Manila Bay Coordinating Office (MBCO) that contributed 3000 sacks, and the remaining 1500 were donated by the DENR-National Capital Region, together with the DENR-MEO West.
“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 are organizations and individuals coming together at the Baywalk Dolomite Beach,” de Villa said.
She also mentioned that the Manila Baywalk reflects the collaboration among all sectors that is necessary to address coastal litter through targeted beach cleanup activities.
The Manila City government, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, Philippine National Police (PNP), PNP-Maritime Group, and Philippine Coast Guard were also the cooperating national and local government agencies and private organizations that participated on the cleanup drive and donated trash bags.
The task of overseeing the maintenance of the 500-meter beach walk was given to the DENR-MEO-West and according to their data, 147,939 sacks of solid waste have been collected in cleanup activities held from July 12 to September 14.
However, a previous news report cited Oceana Philippines, the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation explaining the negative impacts of the project that the DENR has prompted.
They emphasized that Dolomite Beach would cause flooding and other natural hazards in the long run.
According to Oceana, previous studies have pointed out that dump-and-fill activities would exacerbate Manila Bay’s vulnerability to environmental hazards and extreme weather events, which are further aggravated by climate change.
On the other hand, Executive Director Jacob Meimban Jr. of the DENR-Manila Bay Coordinating Office said to a news outlet that they are still confident that Manila Dolomite Beach will be swimmable and they are looking to achieve that by the end of this year.
“Tignan po namin itong katapusan ng taon na ito, kapag natapos po ‘yung mga sinasabi ko pong trabaho. ‘Pag hindi po nagawa ‘yan, by next year po, very confident po kami na swimmable na po sya,” he said.
[Translation: We’ll see by the end of the year if all the tasks I mentioned are done. If not, by next year, we’re very confident it will be swimmable.]
DENR
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources
Manila Baywalk
Clean up drive
volunteers
Dolomite Beach
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