DILG leads 'One Day One Bay' campaign to clean up Manila Bay

The Department of the Interior and Local Government is spearheading a massive campaign to involve the people of Metro Manila for the first One Day One Bay—a Metrowide Waterways Clean-up Day on November 26, 2011, from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo said the event is part of DILG-National Capital Region's Manila Bay OK campaign under its Manila Clean-up, Rehabilitation and Preservation Project, which aims to rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay and all waterways of Metro Manila that are interconnected to it.

Robredo said One Day One Bay 2011 is the beginning of an annual event in which the people are re-educated about their responsibilities to nature and reminded to renew their sense of ownership to their surroundings.

He said cleanup sites will be stationed in all local government units of Metro Manila, and DILG-NCR is inviting the general public to volunteer and take part.

"I hope that this project will ripple to a continuous concern for the environment and individual actions which will eventually lead to reaching the target for 2015 to reduce pollution by 50 percent and increase vegetative cover by 25 percent," said the DILG Secretary.

Currently, there is an estimated coliform count of 33,733,333 MPN/100 ml in Luneta and 416,666,667 in Navotas, which came from domestic wastewater, animal wastes, garbage, and urban and agricultural runoffs. There is approximately 8,726 tons of garbage generated per day in Metro Manila, which has increased by 42 percent since 2005. Out of this number, 2,618 tons of garbage are uncollected per day.

There are also 677,684 households of informal settlers living around the waterways that are also a prime source of direct garbage. The mangrove cover of Manila Bay has also deteriorated from 54,000 in 1890 to only 425 in 2005. The fish catch has declined to 85 percent since 1970.

"If this trend continues, we can clearly imagine what may eventually happen to us. We may not notice it, but we are slowly killing ourselves here in Metro Manila. In this most urbanized zone of the country, we are generating the most toxic environment. There is an urgency to respond to this call of nature, and we will unite for this cause on One Day One Bay," Robredo said.

DILG-NCR Regional Director Renato Brion, who will lead the campaign in Metro Manila, said the project was conceptualized to fuel an engine of concern and create sustainable change that starts within one's self.

Brion said that although DILG-NCR and each of the LGUs hold their own cleanups in the waterways surrounding them, the people should do their share by not throwing their trash just anywhere and letting it flow toward Manila Bay.

"The answer to this challenge is simple—throw your trash in garbage disposal units and segregate. Even if many of us know this reality, majority have become numb to putting it in action. But we at DILG-NCR are not losing hope; we know that when Filipinos unite, nothing is impossible," Brion said.
"Many Filipinos do not realize the interjurisdictional effect of our indifference to nature. The people of Metro Manila all share the same waters; thus, we are subjected to the hazards that flow with it."

To be part of this cleanup revolution, everyone is invited to register at www.onedayonebay.blogspot.com, like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/onedayonebay, and follow on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/OneDayOneBay. For more information, they may call (2) 565-2475. - Official Gazette — ARA