22 tons of wastes hauled in 4-hour river cleanup

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City’s Department of Public Services has collected at least 22 tons of garbage during the cleanup drive along the 11-kilometer Bulacao River yesterday.

With 1,500 volunteers and government workers, Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Head Ma. Nida Cabrera said the cleanup was a success with the help of all stakeholders and private companies.

There were five stations for the cleanup, namely, Lower Torre, Upper Torre, Bulacao Bridge, Cabancalan Foot Bridge, and Candulawan Foot Bridge.

“Ang pinaka-heavy gyud, ang stations 3 and 4 (Bulacao Bridge and Cabancalan Footbridge). Dili na madala og mano-mano, nanghuwam gyud mi og backhoe kay gihimo na’g dumpsite sa mga residente,” she told The Freeman.  (Station 3 and 4 were the worst.  We can’t clean manually.  We had to borrow a backhoe.)

Cabrera said the CENRO will profile all residents living along the three-meter easement zone of the riverbank in Barangay Bulacao since the Barangay Inayawan area has been identified with 180 households.

Before the profiling, she said she will conduct orientation in Barangay Bulacao stressing that people there think that the river is like a dumpsite.

Information dissemination is needed to ensure that the public will cooperate in rehabilitating the river, she added.

For the Bulacao area, she said the Talisay City government will work hand in hand with the Cebu City government to sustain the cleanliness of the river.

“Kinahanglan gyud himoan og action ang kining mga tao gyud kay kon kami ra pirmi maglimpyo unya mga tao magsigeg panglabay, wala gyud tay goal maabot ana. Nakita nato nga murag wala nila givalue ang importance sa sapa,” she said.  (We have to take actions.  If we clean the river and people keep on throwing their trash, we will not achieve our goal.)

During the cleanup yesterday, wastewater of some houses in Barangay Bulacao and Barangay Inayawan were seen being dumped into the rivers.

Cabrera said the barangay environmental officers were not issuing citation tickets to violators yet.

After the information dissemination and education campaign, she said the city’s BEOs will not hesitate to issue these citation tickets against violators who will be caught throwing garbage and waste water into the river.

For the first offense as stated in City Ordinance No. 2398 or the Septage Management Ordinance, violators will be fined P1,000 while the succeeding offenses will cost them P3,000 and P5,000, for second and third offenses, respectively.

As of now, Cabrera said there are six firms in Barangay Inayawan that have paid P1,000 each being first offenders.

She said biofences will be installed in some portions of the river to trap the garbage and will be easily collected by the garbage collectors.

Some of the garbage collected included plastic bottles, dead animals, and others.

“Discouraging kaayo magtan-aw sa atong sapa nga grabing basura kay hastang patay nga mga iro ug iring ilabay ras sapa unya adto na paingon sa dagat kon asa gikan ang pagkaon. Wala gyud matagai og pagtagad sa atong katawhan,” she added. (It’s very discouraging to see our river full of wastes.  Even dead animals are thrown into the river and these flow to the sea where we get our food.)

The event, which lasted for four hours, was spearheaded by CENRO and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Environment Management Bureau (EMB) 7 and other agencies.

Julius Avila, 20, a student volunteer, said he wants to help save the environment.

“Being a youth, it’s a good start sa mga musunod nga kamanghuran” he said.

Alfredo Turmon, 59, recalls how beautiful the Bulacao River was.

Growing up in 1960s, he had fun doing the laundry and bathing in the river.

Turmon believes that aside from residential wastes, animal wastes from existing poultry businesses in the area also contributed to the pollution.

Another cleanup will be held on March 9 along the Lahug River and another cleanup will be done along Guadalupe River on March 16. — Clark  Y. Panugalinog MBG (FREEMAN)