1,500 Sacks of Garbage Collected in Manila Bay

Various environmental and maritime groups
yesterday conducted a massive coastal clean-up in different parts of
the country as part of the 25th International Coastal Clean-up Day.

Lieutenant Commander Armando Balilo, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)
Public Information Officer and deputy chief staff for community
relations said that being one of the lead agencies together with the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on marine
environmental protection, its part of their duty to maintain the
cleanliness of not only of the shoreline but the entire territorial
waters.

According to Captain Lyndon La Torre, PCG deputy chief of staff for
marine environmental protection that a total of 1,500 sacks of garbage
were collected by the PCG volunteers in just three hours of clean-up
along the area of Manila Bay.

“Most of the waste collected by the volunteers during the clean-up
were plastics bags which is very hazardous to the marine environment
especially that it is a non biodegradable material”, La Torre said.

Several maritime stakeholders also participated in the said event
which is also the culminating activity of the International Maritime
Week. Last Friday, the PCG, Philippine Navy and private shipping firms
conducted a marine pollution exercise on combating oil spill.

In Anilao, Batangas members of the Coast Guard Special Operations
Group (CGSOG) scuba divers also conducted a clean-up on various dive
spot in the said area.

Dubbed as “Scubasurero”, the CGSOG divers led by their commanding
officer, Lieutenant Commander Marco Gines conducted a clean-up along
the coral reefs in the said area.

Posted in: Manila Bay garbage