Residents clear trash-filled estero

RESIDENTS living beside the Estero de San Lazaro in Sta. Cruz, Manila, pitch in to clean up the waterway of garbage swept into the area by last month’s floods. RICHARD A. REYES

With shovels and fan guards attached to bamboo poles, informal settlers living beside an estero in Sta. Cruz, Manila, worked together Sunday to scoop up the trash that had blocked the waterway due to last month’s floods spawned by torrential monsoon rains.

“We need these activities to encourage participation and show that the communities along the waterways can be part of the solution instead of being the cause of garbage and flooding problems,” said Joanna Almodal, spokesperson of Kalikasan party-list that organized the cleanup of Estero de San Lazaro in coordination with Councilor Ramon Morales.

Ellen Ytang, 39, a resident of Barangay 299 Zone 29, said last month’s heavy floods swept the garbage from other barangays into their area.

She added that residents along the waterway had long stopped throwing their trash into the estero. However, the grills they had set up under the bridge to block the garbage from other barangays proved to be no match for the higher than usual floodwaters.

The city department of public safety would pick up the garbage collected Sunday for proper disposal, Morales said.

At the same time, he called on the national government to implement flood control programs and dredge the waterways leading to Manila Bay.