Cleanup nets 20 tons of trash

CEBU, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City government yesterday collected an estimated 20 tons of garbage along the coastal areas of the city, including the island barangays.

This was the result of the city wide clean-up conducted by thousands of participants made up of community volunteers, government employees, and barangay officials.

Mayor Paz Radaza, who joined in the activity, said they do this yearly and that they have chosen to clean up the coastal areas since the seas are part of the city's tourism attraction.

"Reports have been submitted to my office regarding the dirty shores starting in Barangay Poblacion going to Barangay Mactan. This encourages me to conduct a simultaneous clean-up drive in the entire coastal areas in the city," Radaza said.

In previous years, the city government focused on cleaning up the streets and drainages in the mainland barangays.

Barangays Pajo, Poblacion, Pusok, Ibo, Buaya, Maribago, Agus, Marigondon, Subabasbas, Sudtunggan, Calawisan, Canjulao, and Looc, as well as the islands of Olango, Pangan-an, Caubian, and Caohagan were the areas cleaned up simultaneously.

Radaza said that a few weeks ago, personnel of their Material Recovery Facility initiated to clean up the city's seashore that was littered with garbage.

"Ang atong mga empleyado sa Material Recovery Facility mao g’yud ang nangunay sa pagpanglimpyo sa mga basura nga naa sa dagat ug sila usab ang nag-clearing operation didto sa mga baboyan nga ana-a mahimutang sa three-meter easement daplin sa dagat," she said.

Considering that the city is a top tourist destination that has a long stretch of beaches and has well-known resorts and hotels, Radaza said cleaning their coastal areas creates a big impact in terms of tourism.

"Dako g’yud kaayo ni og impact ang atong gibuhat karon nga pagpanglimpyo sa atong mga kabaybayon isip kita ang numero uno nga tourist destination sa tibuok Central Visayas. We have to maintain that ranking as tourism drives our economy," she said.

The Department of Tourism-7 said that the city saw more than 1 million tourists of the 2.9 million tourists in Central Visayas last year.

Koreans make up majority of tourists in the region, followed by the Chinese and Japanese. — BRP (FREEMAN)