Clean up campaign

People always unite when there’s a common cause. The spirit of volunteerism among people is strong when there is a pressing issue and when the objective to achieve something is clearly spelled out. The mother of volunteer organizations in countries across the world is the United Nations. It has successfully mobilized millions of volunteers with its many campaigns to help improve the world we live in and to protect mankind from life’s risks and threats. One such campaign by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is “Clean Up the World”, which has been observed for the 17th year now every 21st of September. The campaign mobilized 35 million volunteers from more than 120 countries to clean up, fix up and conserve their local environment in line with the pressing need to combat climate change, hence the theme “Communities Uniting to Combat Climate Change.”

To celebrate the event, Filipino volunteers helped increase the awareness of people on the need to clean up through various activities held last weekend, like the coastal clean up of Laguna Lake by volunteer students from a number of universities. It is unfortunate that in a study by a New York-based environmental group called the Blacksmith Institute, the Philippines was ranked second among countries with the dirtiest seas. We are happy to know of ongoing activities to clean Pasig River, the Manila Bay and other rivers like the Meycauayan and Marilao Rivers, to name a few, activities which should have been done a long time ago.

Let’s focus on Manila Bay. According to a study, there were almost one million units of fecal matter per cubic meter found in the waters of Manila Bay, way above the normal level of 20 units. Another study revealed that four million gallons, or 16 million liters of raw untreated sewage, are being dumped into Manila Bay every day. Readers will recall a newspaper headline with a photograph showing the volume of debris and garbage floating in Manila Bay’s coastline after a recent storm. Manila Bay is choking on garbage and sewage and these flow from many sources, mostly coming from household wastes. Up to now, Manila has no effective wastewater treatment and wastes from residents living in creeks and along the river banks are flushed into the Manila Bay. Garbage consists mostly of plastic wastes, sachets of detergents, shampoo, cleansers and the like used daily by households. Manufacturing wastes coming from industries, factories and commercial establishments along major river systems in the country constitute another major source of water pollution.

Because of the advocacy efforts of an environmentalist-lawyer, Mr. Antonio Oposa, the immediate cleanup, restoration and preservation of Manila Bay as a sea resource, tourist and historical landmark was ordered by no less than the Supreme Court in a recent decision. Oposa received this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award because of his continuing efforts to protect the land and the seas around us, primarily the Manila Bay. Because of his incessant drive to get government agencies to clean the historic bay, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other related agencies were given the mandate by the court.

Waste removal alone is a major step towards cleaning up the environment that will certainly help mitigate the ill effects of climate change. We commend the volunteers who are helping promote this worthwhile campaign.