The Tejero Creek in Cebu City can flow easier for now after Cebu City Hall employees and private sector volunteers collected 62.3 tons of garbage from the river and other areas like the South Road Properties (SRP) yesterday.
The clean up held two days after a heavy downpour flooded Metro Cebu also marked the observance of International Coastal Clean Up Day.
Garbage that clogs the waterways is of the main causes of flooding, according to urban planners.
Randy Navarro, head of the city’s Inayawan Sanitary Landfill operation, said the bulk of the 62.3 tons of garbage came from the Tejero Creek in Cebu City’s north district, the SRP and the coastal waters of barangay Mambaling.
Navarro said volunteers also planted 600 mangrove propagules on one side of the SRP facing barangay Mambaling.
The mangroves were taken from the city’s nursery in barangay Basak San Nicolas that now has 10, 000 mangroves seedlings.
“Our plan is to fill up the portion of the SRP facing the coastal barangays,” Navarro said.
Planting mangroves is part of the city’s effort to landscape the SRP and protect the 300-hectare reclaimed land land from large waves, he said.
Navarro said they also coordinated with the office of Councilor Nida Cabrera, head of the City Council’s environment committee, to plant dakit trees along an access road behind the San Pedro Calungsod templete, another SRP site that experienced unprecedented flooding last Spet. 18.
In Mandaue City, Mayor Jonas Cortes led more than 2,000 City Hall employees and officials in hauling hundreds of sacks of garbage taken from canals as well as the rivers of Butuanon, Mahiga, Casili, Jagobiao, Cansaga and Tipolo.
The mayor cited the need to relocate settlers who encroached on the three meter easement like those in barangay Maguikay.
“Garbage that clogged in the drainage were long-time reasons why we are experiencing heavy flood every rain,” said Asst. City Engineer Andres Suson said.
Architect Florentino Nimor Jr., Planning and Development Coordination chief, said they will review the waste management procedures of every barangay to see if they comply with waste segregation requirements.
In Lapu-Lapu City, hundreds of volunteers from the government joined students, company employees and scuba divers in the cleanup which began with a program at the Liberty Shrine in barangay Mactan at 6 a.m. yesterday.
In her speech, Mayor Paz Radaza called on every stakeholder to do their part in keeping Lapu-Lapu City’s waters and beaches clean.
The 53 scuba diver groups were joined by the police, Navy, Air Force and others to gather garbage at the waters near the resorts. / With Correspondents Anie M. Paujana and Norman V. Mendoza