Guadalupe River cleanup pushed

Massive volume of trash spotted at mouth of Guadalupe River in Cebu City on Sunday morning. | via Brian Ochoa

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Following the large volume of garbage in Guadalupe River that was captured recently, a cleanup operation is pushed to address it.

The cleanup is scheduled today, April 3, as reported by the Cebu City’s public information office. 

Task Force Gubat sa Baha Operations Officer, Charles Villagonzalo, said the decision of cleaning the area came after the inspection conducted by some deputy commanders of the eight major rivers in the city yesterday, April 2.

The deputy river commanders were part of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO). The members from Task Force Gubat sa Baha were also present during the inspection. 

The garbage issue in Guadalupe River went viral recently after CDN Digital posted some snaps of it on Sunday morning, March 31.

The PIO added that the task force initially planned to clean the other rivers in the city after the Holy Week, but after the inspection yesterday, they decided to clean up first the Guadalupe River. 

Meanwhile, in an interview with Councilor Joel Garganera yesterday, he emphasized the importance of being responsible to one’s garbage. 

“Simple lang kaayo. Kining matag wrapper lang simple ra kaayo nang mga wrapper [pero] bisag asa na nimo ilabay it will find its way to the drainage system all the way to the creek,” Garganera said.

(It is so simple. Every wrapper it is so simple but you throw it anywhere and it will find its way to the drainage system all the way to the creek.)

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Garganera, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and other utilities, said that it would be hard to make the people tell the truth if they would be caught throwing garbage anywhere.

“Kaning basura, usa ni siya sa mga butang nga wa gyuy moangkon og masakpan. This is a perennial problem nato…Before ani, mapasanginlan ni nimo tanan didto sa taas (the city government). But then again, unsaon nato pagpenalize og wa ta kahibaw kinsay naglabay?” Garganera said.

(This garbage, this is one thing where no one would own up if one would get caught. This is a perennial problem for us…Before this you can blame this to everyone there at the top (city government). But then again, how can we penalize if we do not know who threw them?)

Moreover, he said that sometimes, the city government would eventually “absorb” all the complaints, but nonetheless he urged the public, especially the residents to be responsible with their garbage.

“Wa man ta magingon nga panglimpyo mo, ang ato ayaw moghugaw-hugaw. That’s the message. Dili ta maghugaw-hugaw… but then again it boils down to each individual,” he said.

(We are not saying that you clean up, what we want is that you don’t litter. That’s the message. We don’t litter…but then again it boils down to each individual.)

The violator who is caught throwing a garbage in public places will be fined at around P500-P1,000 based on the provision of city’s anti-littering ordinance.

Meanwhile, he said that the reason why the city could not impose a higher penalty was because of restrictions in the local government code. 

Garganera also noted that the city’s penalty would be way lesser compared to the penalties for littering offenses in other countries like in Singapore.

With this, he said he would be in favor of raising the penalties because he believed it would be the only way for the people to understand how to take care of the environment.

Last March 16, around 87 tons of trash were collected during the 15th city-wide cleanup.

The cleanup, which began at 6 a.m., targeted eight rivers across the city. These included Lahug River (29.5 tons), Guadalupe River (19 tons), Mahiga River (18 tons), Kinalumsan River (8 tons), Bulacao River (4.6 tons), Butuanon River (3.48 tons), Estero de Parian (3.2 tons), and Tagunol River (1.6 tons).