Manila orders barangay cleanup on Saturdays

MANILA, Philippines — As a “band-aid solution” to a worsening garbage problem, Mayor Isko Moreno ordered all barangay officials to make every Saturday of the week a “clean-up” day in Manila.

In Executive Order No. 3, Moreno called on all barangay officials to “lead by example” and to “initiate, engage and participate in clean-up and declogging operations” in Manila.

Under EO 3, the “simultaneous clean-up and declogging of streets, thoroughfares, waterways, drainage, esteros or canals and the like” shall be done “every Saturday all year from 6 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock in the morning.”

Moreno noted that Manila “is in a state of deteriorating sanitary conditions and worsening garbage collection problem, causing hazard to one’s health and safety.”

“Every Manileño is encouraged to participate in the clean-up drive and declogging operation in their respective homes and communities. All non-governmental organizations in the city are also urged to do the same,” EO 3 read in part.

In a dialogue with 100 barangay zone leaders at the mayor’s office on July 3, Moreno explained that the weekly cleanup could help, at least as a “band-aid solution,” to lessen flooding in flood-prone areas.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said MMDA personnel hauled over 21 tons of waste from the Quiapo pumping station and a nearby creek using payloaders and boats to remove the massive piles of garbage.

In a statement yesterday, the MMDA said it had to briefly halt the operation of the Abucay pumping station in Tondo after discovering that garbage, mostly plastic materials, had stuck to its impeller.

The machine was restored after the MMDA flood control and sewerage management office removed the trash.

The MMDA appealed to residents to avoid indiscriminately throwing garbage in waterways.