Gov’t, civic groups clean up Manila Bay

MANILA, Philippines – More than 2,000 men, women, and children from all over Metro Manila and surrounding provinces donned rubber gloves, boots, straw hats and brought sacks to clear Manila Bay of garbage.

The 2013 Manila Bay Coastal Clean-up was organized by the Manila Bay Sunset Partnership Program, Inc., which is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility program of the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

Participating government institutions include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the City of Manila, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Pamantasang Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), University of the Philippines – Manila, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).

Private groups include the Manila Yacht Club, Manila Ocean Park, Diamond Hotel and Manila Broadcasting Company.

The MYC and the DENR mobilized boats to pick up floating garbage, while garbage trucks of the MMDA and the Manila City Government received the garbage from the participants.

A large portion of the participants were mobilized by the CDA, the government agency regulating cooperatives.  The CDA had invited co-ops to send delegations to the clean-up which marks the beginning of the celebration of the “Cooperative Month” in October.

Nationwide, there are more than 22,555 registered cooperatives with combined memberships reaching 11.6 million individuals.  There are 2,288 co-ops in Metro Manila alone.

At the 2012 celebration of the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives, the CDA had enjoined cooperatives to adopt the theme “Transformative Cooperatives for People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace,” enjoining co-ops to transform communities with the “Four P’s.”

The clean-up began at 6 a.m. “In just three hours, you could see a big difference,” says Cielo Garrido, General Manager of Paranaque City-based San Dionisio Credit Cooperative.