The City Government of Davao was awarded the Local Champion for Marine Litter Action award “for pioneering the development of the City Plan of Action on Marine Litter in support of the Philippines’ National Plan of Action o Marine Litter.”
The award was presented by the UN Habitat of the Philippines, in partnership with the League of Cities of the Philippines, during the World Cities Day Celebration held on October 28, 2022, in Quezon City, Philippines.
Ancillary Services Unit (ASU) officer-in-charge Paul Bermejo on Monday, November 7, said the city earned the honor for being able to implement a localized Philippine action plan for marine litter among other local government units (LGUs) in the country.
He attributed it to the city’s Bantay Dagat program, which began in 2017 during the administration of former Mayor Inday Sara Duterte and was continued to this day by Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte.
Bermejo cited Executive Order (EO) No. 41, Series of 2017, which provides that the Bantay Dagat volunteers will conduct coastal and riverbank cleanup every first and third Saturday morning of the month.
But he said the 350 Bantay Dagat volunteers hold cleanup activities every Saturday morning in seven riverbanks and 26 coastal barangays. Each one receives a P1,000 allowance.
As years went by, he said other stakeholders and force multipliers from non-government organizations and the youth have been joining the weekly cleanup, as well as the barangay officials and their functionaries, City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) and Department of Natural Environment and Natural Resource Office (DENR) Region 11 staff, cyclists, teaches, boy scouts, and girl scouts, among others.
“Attributed gyud ni sa City Government of Davao ang maong programa kay maski wala pa ning UN Habitat’s Save the Oceans and Rivers, naa na ta’y nahimong program aron hinluan atong coastline (This program is attributed to the City Government of Davao because even though the UN Habitat’s Save the Oceans and Rivers has not been organized yet, we already have a program to clean our coastline),” the ASU chief said.
The Bantay Dagat volunteers are grouped into clusters.
Cluster 1 is comprised of barangays 2A, 5A, 8A, 9A, and 10A while Cluster 2 included barangays 21-C, 32-C, 33-C, 31-B, 27-C, and 76-A.
The rest of the clusters: 4 – Matina Aplaya, Talomo, Bago Aplaya, Dumoy; 5 – Leon Garcia, Lapulapu, Centro Agdao, Duterte; 6 – Hizon, Pampanga, Sasa, Panacan; 7- Tibungco, Ilang, Bunawan, Lasang; 8 – Daliao, Lizada, Sirawan, Binugao.
For NGOs and other establishments or institutions wanting to participate in weekly cleanup as a community outreach activity, Bermejo said they could visit him at the ASU office inside the Maa slaughterhouse compound since they document their volunteers.
Interested groups and individuals who are joining cleanups must wear appropriate clothes, wear gloves, use thongs or sticks or hooks to pick up the garbage and bring empty sacks where to put the waste they have gathered.
ASU and CENRO will then transport the sacks for proper disposal. CIO
