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Volunteers pick up over 50 bags of trash at Lower Base
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Posted on Jul 18 2004
Some 100 volunteers from Environmental Interagency Cleanup Operation Team got down to work again, continuing their cleanup efforts at Lower Base yesterday.
Composed mostly by members of the MOVER non-profit organization, EICOT kicked off the second phase of its cleanup work, months after ridding drainages and the shoreline from San Antonio village to Garapan of trash.
MOVER chairman Jun Lapeceros said cleanup activities at Lower Base are now about 90 percent done. The volunteers collected over 50 bags of garbage during the half-day cleanup.
“We basically picked up empty bottles, cans, and all sorts of trash scattered at the drainage area and the shoreline. We also cut some thin, overgrown branches of trees at the drainage site and along the road,” Lapeceros said.
The group will go back to Lower Base to cut the bigger branches and to finish cleaning up the area. Then, the volunteers will move on to the drainage site at Puerto Rico dump, Lapeceros added.
The cleanup project will cover nine stormwater drainages and 5.5 miles of shoreline from Garapan to San Roque, and is expected to take eight consecutive Sundays.
MOVER is spearheading the project using $5,000 in grant funds from Mobil Oil Marianas.
EICOT chairman Benny K. Pangelinan said the project aims to reduce the uncontrolled flow of contaminated waste material, carcasses, and human waste into the northern lagoon, and to rid the shoreline of broken glass and other trash.
Other groups participating in the cleanup are Filipino organizations POWER, KAMPIL and Bicol Association, and private firm CTSI Logistics, Inc.
Local residents and other workers are urged to come out and help, Pangelinan said.
Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, he added, has pledged to sponsor mid-morning snacks for the eight Sundays, while lawmakers are being tapped to take care of the volunteers’ lunch every Sunday.
