Cenro chief expects to collect more than 20 tons of garbage in March 9’s Lahug River cleanup

Thousands of volunteers help clean up the 16 Km Lahug River in Cebu City during the March 9 activity. |Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — More than 20 tons of garbage are expected to be collected during this day’s, March 9, cleanup of the Lahug River.

Nida Cabrera, Cebu City Environment and  Natural Resources Office (Cenro) head, said that this would be considering the length of the river and the number of people who helped clean the river.

Cabrera was referring to the length of the Lahug River, which spans 16 kilometers and traverses residential and commercial areas.

There are also more volunteers as compared to the cleanup last month of another river in the city, the Bulacao River.

Read more: Cebu’s Cenro goes all out with river cleanup drive

At least 2,000 volunteers from both public and private organizations including schools joined the clean-up early morning of Saturday, March 9.

Cabrera said three garbage trucks had been deployed for the collection of the garbage collected in the five stations of the Lahug River including Upper La Guerta, Sudlon; Lahug Bridge; Camputhaw Bridge; Echavez Bridge; and Tinago Bridge.

The total weight of the garbage collected was still being consolidated as of 1 p.m.

This is part of the garbage collected from the Lahug River during Saturday’s river cleanup. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

Cabrera, however, said that she was expecting more garbage to be collected as compared to the February 23, Bulacao River cleanup, where 20 tons of garbage were collected.

“Mas daghan gyod nig basura ang Lahug (River) kay mas taas ug mas daghan sad nitabang karon,” she said.

Aside from that, Cabrera also cited the challenge of cleaning the Lahug river since there were a lot of garbage to collect and this was made worse by the unpleasant smell coming from the river.

Cabrera said that the the 16 km river traverses along residential and commercial areas and this had become a dumpsite for the residents as well.

Cabrera said that the smell forced some of the volunteers to wear masks over their mouths and noses to avoid breathing in the stink.

“Baho gyod kaayo kay daghan na kaayog basura. Lisod gyod (ang paglimpyo),” said Cabrera.

Cabrera said that the smell is a mixture of garbage and both human and animal feces.

Read more:  Lahug River clean up generates 100 sacks of trash

The Environment Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7) has earlier declared the river dead last January.

Meanwhile, Cabrera said that aside from the river cleanup, they also took the opportunity to assess it so that they could provide recommendations to the city on how to rehabilitate the dead Lahug River.

“Dugay pa gyod ni nagrehabitation. Mga duha o tulo ka tuig,” said Cabrera. 

She said that the cleanup drive would serve as the start of the long rehabilitation to revive the Lahug River. 

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DEN-R) classified the Lahug River as a type C river which meant that it was dangerous to drink or bath in./dbs