200T kg of garbage collected in Mandaue since April

CEBU, Philippines — Over 200,000 kilograms of garbage has been collected by the Mandaue City government since April this year, majority of which is plastic.

Mandaue City Environmental and Natural Resources Office head Araceli Barlam said during the city’s launching of Istorya ta Bai: A Move for Good Governance and Transparency Forum that the cleanup drives is a continuing activity, especially with the start of the rainy season.

Barlam said that this is a united effort of the city government and the 27 barangays, who have been diligent in their clean-up drives.

“Nakita gyud nimo ilang nga efforts. Daku kaayo ni nga volume nga divert kay kung wala pa ni nato gikuha naa na ni sa sapa, canal, ug dagat,” said Barlam.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes led the cleanup drive in the city last month in preparation for the rainy season together with some residents in what they called a “bayanihan” system beginning on the city’s streets and other areas that are prone to flooding.

Cortes has emphasized that cleaning one’s backyard or in every community and sitio is essential so there are no barriers in the city’s drainage and thus would help prevent flooding.

The mayor is hopeful that every Mandauehanon will be mindful of their surroundings by not indiscriminately throwing garbage, especially in canals, drainage or waterways as these can really cause flooding in their respective communities.

Cortes earlier directed the City Engineering Office to clean-up the city’s manhole, drainage, and canals.

“This is precisely why we are trying to institutionalize our purok system. We need the help of each Mandauehanon. We have seen there’s coordination with the barangays but still not enough. We have tons and tons of garbage but again we need to do extra effort,” the mayor said during the forum.

The mayor has also instructed Architect Marlo Ocleasa, head of the City Planning and Development Office, to have a meeting with DPWH officials on the technical aspect on how to improve the city’s drainage line.

“We’ve been fortunate that we have projects implemented by DPWH but unfortunately there was a need for coordination between LGU and DPWH 6th District especialy of the connectivity of the outfall of the drainage, the elevation, and the capacity of the drainage lines,” Cortes added.

Ocleasa said that during their emergency meeting with DPWH officials from the region, district, and local partners the other day following heavy flooding, they discussed how they can move forward on issues in the implementation.

“Right now if you can notice there are still flooded areas in the city especially within the national roads. These areas have ongoing projects being implemented that we need to adjust on the implementation. There are certain designs that need to be adjusted and coordinated with private partners,” Oclease said.

Ocleasa added that the benefit of the meeting was that they discussed the solutions rather than the problems.

“So it is a good indicator that we are moving forward on implementing based on our drainage master plan of the city,” Ocleasa added.

In addition, Cortes said he is hopeful that the rainwater catchment ordinance of the city will be strictly implemented by the Office of the Building Official as this will surely help the flooding problem in the city.

“Daku gyud ni siyang tabang kay ang rainwater dili na man modiritso sa yuta but ma recycle pa into other usage,” the mayor said. –/ATO (FREEMAN)