DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu. INQUIRER file photo / LYN RILLON
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Saturday ordered the event organizers to stop their world-record attempt to drop the largest number of balloons during the New Year’s Eve countdown at the posh Okada Manila, considering the country’s problem with solid waste.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu asked Cove Manila to stop the planned “largest balloon drop” at Okada, noting the immense amount of solid waste that the event would generate.
In a phone call with INQUIRER.net, Environment Undersecretary Benny Antiporda, DENR spokesperson, said the department will not hesitate to arrest and file charges against the organizers who will push through with the “balloon drop.”
DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda. (Photo from an INQUIRER.net video)
Antiporda said this will be a “solid waste disaster waiting to happen.”
“Even if the organizers continue to hold the event indoor, because there were reports that they have shifted to do it inside Okada, our DENR personnel will be physically present there to monitor the disposal of those balloons and at the same time implement immediate action against violators,” Antiporda pointed out.
The DENR’s reaction came after Cove Manila invited the public to witness the Guinness World Record attempt to drop around 130,000 balloons in an “epic New Year’s Eve countdown party” at Okada Manila located in Paranaque City.
The Cove Manila explained that the event will push through saying that the balloons they will use in the record attempt will be biodegradable.
Cove Manila said the materials used for the balloons will degrade overtime and there will be people to properly dispose of the wastes for that particular event.
However, Antiporda said there is no such thing as biodegradable balloons, saying all of them will just turn into microplastic that eventually endangers the wildlife creatures in the sea.
The DENR spokesperson said some of these microplastic will somehow end up in the sea in which sea animals may ingest and harm their health and wellbeing.
He said the DENR will not allow any event that becomes a hazard or threat to the environment and its species.