QC waterways cleanup on track

The Quezon City government is determined to clear its 41 rivers and creeks of wastes before the rainy season.

During the third edition of Mayor SB Reports’ media briefing at the Sulo Hotel, Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the waterways cleanup drive has been going smoothly.

He said some 827 of the 1,000 "SB" volunteers participated in this week’s formal launching of "Sagip-Batis sa Quezon City" project, while 937 participated on the second day of the waterways cleanup drive, representing 94 percent compliance.

The city government, through the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD), has enlisted the services of volunteers to clean up the Quezon City river system, consisting of four major rivers and 37 tributaries, with a total length of 124.75 kilometers, traversing 103 barangays.

Each volunteer receives P133.33 as meal allowance a day or P3,000 monthly for their six-hour daily work schedule from 6 a.m. to 12 noon.

In the same forum, Belmonte also reported on the city’s intensified drive against price manipulators to protect consumers on the wake of the ongoing US-led war on Iraq.

The local price monitoring council, chaired by the mayor himself, and co-chaired by Market Development and Administration Department head Neil Lina, is conducting a round-the-clock inspection of the city’s eight public and 37 private markets to ensure that prices of basic commodities are within the limits set by the Department of Trade and Industry. – With Perseus Echeminada