Tons of trash mar traslacion

MMDA workers have their work cut out for them as they sweep up the truckloads of trash left behind by devotees of the Black Nazarene in Manila the morning after the feast day. ARNOLD ALMACEN

An environmental group has expressed disappointment over the 400 tons of garbage left on Manila streets during the annual “traslacion” or grand procession of the Black Nazarene that took place from Friday morning until early Saturday morning, saying the massive littering set a bad precedent for the papal visit which would most likely attract even more devotees.

EcoWaste Coalition zero-waste campaigner Tin Vergara said in a statement that the group hoped “the outdoor Eucharistic celebration to be presided over by Pope Francis next week would not be blighted by the garbage that we saw in [Friday’s] traslacion.”

According to Belle Borromeo, the Manila City Hall’s Department of Public Service head, the garbage they collected on Saturday morning amounted to around 203 tons and filled 20 trucks.

MMDA’s Metro Parkway Clearing Group head Francis Martinez likewise said that their eight compactor trucks and 12 dump trucks were able to collect around 210 tons of garbage along the procession route from Rizal Park until Quiapo Church.

As early as Friday noon, Vergara said EcoWaste’s “basura (garbage) patrollers” observed that newspapers, Styrofoam food containers, leftovers, wrappers, paper cups, plastic bags and bottles, and cigarette butts were being dumped by devotees in the streets, clogging drains. She added that many were also seen urinating in open

public spaces.

Borromeo said cleaning operations were still ongoing on Manila streets in preparation for the Pope’s visit. She added that to discourage littering during the papal visit, the city government had asked barangay officials to appeal to their constituents to keep their surroundings clean.