The Villar Foundation, in keeping
with its environment-related advocacies, has inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA)
with Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) as represented by radio station DZRH in
its Manila Bay Cleanup drive.
The Villar Foundation, led by its
Managing Director Cynthia Villar, together with at least 1,000 volunteers from
schools, barangays, NGOs, socio-civic organizations, and other private
individuals and groups will join the cleanup drive. Their assigned garbage
cleanup area is in the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat & Eco-Tourism
Area or LPPCHEA, off Manila Bay.
“We have always been concerned
about the condition of the Manila Bay. The recent typhoons have shown all of us
the bay’s decaying state due to people’s indiscriminate throwing and dumping of
garbage there. Regular cleanup drives such as this are always a good idea,”
said Villar.
During the recent typhoon Gener,
according to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), at least 200
truckloads or over 500 tons of garbage, washed away to shore by the storm surge,
was collected around the Manila Bay area. It took weeks to completely collect
the big piles of garbage.
Villar added that the foundation
conducts regular weekly cleanups at LPPCHEA but Saturday’s cleanup with DZRH is
just bigger in terms of number of volunteers.
As per the MoA, MBC or DZRH will lead the Manila Bay Cleanup project on
August 25, 2012 (Saturday) along the coastline of Manila Bay from Navotas to
Bacoor, Cavite “to help promote any and all efforts in relation to the
promotion of sustainable ecosystem of Manila Bay”.
The
clean-up activities will take place from 7am to 11am onwards and the garbage
collected will be turned over to appropriate government solid waste collector
in the area.
“The
Villar Foundation and DZRH agree that this is a joint cooperative undertaking,
but more importantly, it is a major public service activity that shall help contribute
to the promotion of a livable, healthier and ecological sustainable Manila Bay,”
cited the MoA.
Villar
has been vocal about her strong support for the protection of Manila Bay. To
recall on March 16 this year, she filed a petition for Writ of Kalikasan
against a Manila Bay reclamation project that is seen to cause catastrophic
flooding in the area. The Supreme Court granted her petition and issued a writ
of kalikasan in April.
“We
will continue to support campaigns or drives to protect Manila Bay and
neighboring areas including LPPCHEA. At the same, time, we will continue to
oppose projects that will cause damage and destruction to the bay and nearby
cities,” cited Villar.
