‘Help us clean up Manila’

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim Sunday appealed to residents  to work together with the government in clearing the city of garbage left behind by the floods which inundated most parts of Metro Manila last week.

“If it is possible, let’s help each other. There must be citizen involvement; if there is garbage in your area, please collect it and put it into waste bins,” he said.

According to him, barangay officials should lead their people in cleaning up their surroundings as trash leads to the creation of landfills which can pose health risks to both humans and animals.

“To our local leaders who are our partners in cleaning up the barangays, please let us know if there is garbage in your area which has yet to be collected by our trucks,” he said.

The mayor earlier cited city officials and personnel of the Manila City Hall engineer’s office and Department of Public Services who worked nonstop to pump out the floodwater that had filled the Recto Avenue underpass following days of torrential rains due to the monsoon.

He also gave out cash incentives as a token of appreciation for the hard work they put in.

In a related development, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino said that the agency’s personnel, with the help of other government agencies, Sunday collected an estimated 300 tons of garbage—enough to fill up 50 trucks—that had washed up on the shoreline of Manila Bay on Roxas Boulevard in Manila.