Group still awaits miracle of ‘trashless Traslacion’

Volunteers clean up the mess left by the devotees at Rizal Park on Tuesday morning. —JAM STA. ROSA

Environmental watchdog EcoWaste Coalition expressed dismay over the piles of trash left behind by participants in Tuesday’s grand procession of the Black Nazarene in Manila, noting how its antilittering campaign continued to be ignored by the devotees.

“We are deeply saddened by the sight of garbage at Rizal Park, where the procession of the venerated image began following an all-night vigil, and along the processional route,” the group’s zero-waste campaigner Daniel Alejandre said.

“The lack of environmental concern has again stained the awe-inspiring expression of faith and trust in the Black Nazarene,” Alejandre said, adding that the health and financial problems that the devotees hope to end “could have been caused or worsened by a degraded and polluted environment.”

“Our plea for a trashless traslacion remains an elusive dream,” he added.

EcoWaste Coalition members, along with church and school volunteers, have consistently assisted government-employed street sweepers in the cleanup of Rizal Park where the overnight veneration of the Black Nazarene is held prior to the procession.

On Tuesday, the group noted rampant littering in front of Quirino Grandstand, where the devotees had spent the night and didn’t bother to find the trash bins installed in the area for their leftovers, plastic wrappers and polystyrene packs, and newspapers that were used as sleeping mats.

Plastic bags and polystyrene containers are supposedly banned in Manila, EcoWaste added.

Like last year, some devotees also either urinated in the open or peed into plastic bottles even though portable toilets were just a short walk away, it added. —Jaymee T. Gamil