BORONGAN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways- Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (DPWH-ESDEO) joined the nation of the recently-held international coastal clean-up day.
The annual activity, held every September 16 of the year, is in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 470 declaring every third Saturday of September as the international coastal clean-up day.
This year, over 61 employees of the district participated in cleaning the 200 meter stretch of the coastline of the Baybay Baybay in this city, District Engineer Manolo Rojas said.
The activity, which started at sunrise, resulted in the collection of 15kg of trash.
Among the most collected were dried leaves, dried coconut husks, plastic food wrappers, plastic bottles, bottle caps as well as tiny pieces of foam.
For three decades, 9 million volunteers all over the world have collected 87,996,919.78 kilograms of trash.
The Philippines, with 3,650,881 volunteers in two decades, has since collected 19,228,243 kilograms of trash covering 54,132 kilometer coastline.
Last year 504,503 volunteers picked up 3,346,055 kilograms of trash along more than 24,136 kilometers of coastline.
The trash in the ocean impacts the livelihood of many Filipinos who depend on fishing and could impact the economy. Trash mostly harms the seabed and the marine life. Those places engaged in tourism with the beach and the sea as its prime tourist attraction will also be affected.
The DPWH has been joining the International Coastal Clean Up every year as part of promoting and supporting better Ocean Health and environmental consciousness. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)
