Guadalupe river cleanup 1,000 volunteers still not enough

CEBU, Philippines —  They cleaned for at least four hours. It was still not enough.

The heaps of trash that have piled up in the downstream portions of Guadalupe River proved too much for the over 1,000 volunteers yesterday morning as there are still garbage left in the river.

Nevertheless, an estimated 30 tons of garbage were collected by the Cebu City Government during the cleanup.

Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office head Ma. Nida Cabrera decided to pull out the volunteers past 10 a.m. and schedule another cleanup on Monday.

“Grabe gyud kaayo ka hugaw ang tanang ubos sa bridge sa Guadalupe River. Gibiyaan namo nga wala mahuman og limpyo. Ubos sa tanang bridges, wala gyud mahurot ang basura kay grabe sa kadaghan,” she told The FREEMAN.

(The garbage that have piled up under the bridges were just too much. We left without finishing the entire stretch. We were unable to finish because of the mountains of rubbish under the bridges.)

All eight stations established along the Guadalupe River are strewn with mounds of garbage, she said.

The stations from barangay Sapangdaku down to barangays Pasil and Ermita was set up at Sandayong Bridge, Haarlemmermeer City Bridge, M. Velez Bridge, B. Rodriguez Bridge, P. Del Rosario Bridge, Guadalupe Bridge, Sanciangko Bridge, and Topaz Bridge.

But Cabrera said the dirtiest bridges are B. Rodriguez Bridge, P. Del Rosario Bridge, Guadalupe Bridge, Sanciangko Bridge, and Topaz Bridge.

She said CENRO has allocated 50 sacks of rice and 25 cartons of canned goods that will be used for the food-for-work program to be implemented on Monday’s cleanup along the Guadalupe River.

Every three hours of cleaning the river, a person will get three kilos of rice and six canned goods, said Cabrera.

Cabrera said at least 10 residents will be hired for the food-for-work program from each of the seven barangays along the Guadalupe River. These barangays are Calamba, Sambag 1, Sambag 2, Pahina Central, Pahina San Nicolas, Pasil and Ermita.

“Nakita namo nga daghan gyud manglabay og basura sa sapa. Mga 12 ka tawo ang na issue-han og citation ticket kay bisag nanglimpyo mi didto, nanglabay gihapon,” Cabrera said.

(We saw residents throwing their garbage. We will issue citation tickets to some 12 people. They dumped their wastes even as we were cleaning.)

She said there are also households along the riverbank that do not have septic tanks.

After the food for work on Monday, Cabrera said the city will also profile all residents living along the river to know how many households do not have septic tanks yet.

As of now, she said, there are over 150 households along Lahug River and Bulacao River that were identified by the city as not having a septic tank.

Cabrera said the city will strictly enforce the environmental ordinances after the information and education campaign. —  JMD (FREEMAN)