ORMOC CITY– Employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Leyte 4th District Engineering Office (DEO) took part in this year’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day, gathering along the shores of Ormoc Bay to clear the area of waste.
Through their collective effort, the volunteers collected a total of 58 sacks of garbage, ranging from plastic bottles and caps, food wrappers, straws and other forms of debris.
OIC-District Engineer Peter Scheler V. Soco stated that maintaining a clean environment requires the participation of everyone. “As a government office, we have a responsibility to do our part in keeping our surroundings clean,” he said. “This activity may seem simple, but collecting 58 sacks of garbage shows how much waste can accumulate in our coastal areas.”
ICC Day is a global initiative started by the Ocean Conservancy in 1986, now observed annually by millions of volunteers across over 100 countries to remove trash from beaches and waterways and raise awareness on marine pollution. In the Philippines, it is institutionalized under Presidential Proclamation No. 470, series of 2003. (PR)
