Of tides and trash: Lim leads cleanup

VOLUNTEERS on Saturday form the frontline in what seems to be an endless battle against garbage on Manila Bay. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

For the nth time, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim appealed to residents living along coastal areas to stop dumping garbage on Manila Bay as he led a cleanup drive Saturday morning.

But Lim observed that even with repeated campaigns on his side of the bay, trash coming from other areas still end up in his city.

“What happens is that the high tide brings in the trash from other places and leaves it here when the waters recede. I hope those living in other coastal areas would stop throwing their garbage into the water. This is becoming an endless problem,” Lim said in Filipino at the launch of the campaign dubbed Makabagong Bayanihan Para sa Kalikasan.

He said that of late, especially because of recent storm surges and flash floods, up to six trucks of garbage had been collected particularly along the Roxas Boulevard seawall on weekends.

Saturday’s cleanup was also supported by Manila Broadcasting Company-dzRH, Manila Ocean Park, Metro Manila Development Authority, UP Manila, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, the National Statistics Office, and the Landbank of the Philippines, among others. Nancy C. Carvajal