TIME FOR CLEANUP Piles of garbage are seen floating near Bulungan Market in Parañaque City, a portion of Manila Bay. Monday marks World Environment Day, with this year’s campaign #BeatPlasticPollution calling for a concerted global effort against the problem. (See features on Pages A2-1 to A2-5.) —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — The government has been able to collect 2.6 million kilograms of garbage after the launching of the Kalinga at Inisyatiba para sa Malinis na Bayan (Kalinisan) Project.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced the nationwide cleanup program in line with National Community Development Day, which incentivizes local government units to keep their communities clean.
“A national status report of the Department of [the] Interior and Local Government released late Sunday showed the Kalinisan program had collected 2,646,948 kilograms of trash from 9,189 participating barangays in the country,” said the Presidential Communications Office in a statement on Monday.
A total of 580,000 individuals and 109,939 local officials also participated in the cleanup.
According to the Palace, the bulk of the 580,000 people came from the following areas:
- Cagayan Valley: 103,249
- Central Luzon: 103,044
- Calabarzon: 117,161
- Mimaropa: 59,630
- Central Visayas: 29,814
- Zamboanga Peninsula: 27,287
- Northern Mindanao from 63,996
- Soccskargen: 8,060