Navotas is cleanest, greenest

Navotas has been adjudged as this year’s cleanest and greenest town in the National Capital Region (NCR) by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Mayor Toby Tiangco was informed of the award by Serafin Benaldo, DILG regional director and chairman of the Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligaran NCR Awards committee.

The DILG credited the people of Navotas for their concern "about the quality of the environment in which they live." It also cited the impact of the government’s clean and green program "achieved through the exemplary performance" of Tiangco.

"The residents deserve all the credit," Tiangco said. "No clean and green project would succeed if the people are not behind it."

The mayor said the municipal government merely tapped the people’s enthusiasm to get them involved in community-enhancing projects. One such project was the deployment of volunteer streetsweepers under Oplan Kalinisan last year.

"The project had two objectives," Tiangco said. "One was to promote cleanliness. The other was to provide residents with part-time jobs within their own neighborhoods." Volunteer streetsweepers work only three hours a day and are paid P50 as daily incentive. They collect garbage in bags and bring the bags to designated pick-up points.

The idea was simple yet effective, Tiangco said. "With this kind of community spirit, Navotas deserves the cleanest and greenest award," he said.

The Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligaran is project of the DILG with the support of other government agencies like the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Health, Tourism, Education and the Philippine Information Agency.

Navotas has the highest population density in Metro Manila, with 220,000 people living in a 10.77-kilometer strip of land, almost half of which is made up mainly of fishponds. There are 31 shipyards and some 75 ice plants supporting the town’s fishing industry.