Manila asks banks to help clean up bay

As personnel from the Land Bank of the Philippines helped pick garbage floating in Manila Bay yesterday, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim urged other banks with branches in Ermita to help clean up the bay.

Lim, in a statement, appealed to banks to follow the lead of the Landbank, which has been helping haul garbage from Manila Bay for several years.

“I hope that the initiative of Landbank president and chief executive officer Gilda Pico would be equaled by the other banks in Ermita since they are also affected by conditions of the Manila Bay and the Baywalk,” he said.

He issued the appeal as he launched an intensified drive to clean up Manila Bay. The Manila city government recently signed a memorandum of agreement with Landbank to help in the campaign. The project is also in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the 101st Squadron of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Manila Yacht Club (MYC).

Landbank also provides the MYC the gasoline it needs to remove the garbage. Lim said that in return for Landbank’s unwavering support for their program, the city government will place its accounts with the Landbank.

“Right now we are in the process of starting the cleanup of Ermita, Malate, Vito Cruz and the boundaries of Roxas Boulevard, Taft Avenue and P. Burgos, which are teeming with sidewalk vendors,” Lim said.

Meanwhile, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza launched the Manila Bay Law Enforcement Team to “spearhed the conservation of the bay” and named DENR Assistant Secretary Mark Allan Jay Yambao as head of the team.  – Evelyn Macairan