Inabanga joins global coastal cleanup

INABANGA – Hundreds of residents led by Mayor Josephine Socorro Jumamoy trooped to the coast yesterday to clean the shoreline of debris as their participation in the 20th annual International Coastal Cleanup Day. In her message prior to the actual cleanup, the mayor exhorted them to live up to the theme of “Ang Malinis na Katubigan at Kapaligiran ay Pamana Natin sa Susunod na Salinlahi (Clean Seas and Environment are our Legacy to the Next Generation).”

While the International Cleanup Day is celebrated only once yearly, Jumamoy nonetheless said cleaning and freeing of the coast from trash and contamination must be a daily event. The mayor led the Sangguniang Bayan members, department heads and municipal employees in yesterday's synchronized coastal clean up initiated locally by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)

The activity lasted the whole morning. Teams were created to monitor the activities in the barangays and to record the quantity and type of garbage they retrieved. Jumamoy ensured that the participants understood their mission. She expressed confidence that the annual activity will have a long-term impact on the people. The barangay elective and appointed officials, teachers and students from all over the elementary and high schools of this town and the residents gathered the different trash they found in the seawaters, shorelines, riverbanks, creek waters and creek sides.

Volunteers filled up the data cards provided for each participating barangay. They indicated the specific number and kind of trash gathered, and identified them if from beach-goers, picnics, sports, games, festivals and litter from people, from the streets, storms, or drains etc. They also determined if the debris were waste from recreational or commercial fishing boats or vessel operations, or if associated with smoking-related wastes.

The record would serve as basis for future studies on the types of trash collected in a particular area and the dumping activities, sewer or sewerage waste, debris items involved. Jumamoy urged her constituents to keep their coastal waters safe from foreign matters. As a built-in checking mechanism, she said the Coastal Resource Management Project monitors the status of all coastal barangays and water resources every month.

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