ILOILO City – In observance of the World Water Day 2019, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6 spearheaded an early morning activity dubbed as “Jog, Pick and Dance with Nature” at the Iloilo River Esplanade on March 22.
Hundreds of participants coming from the City ENR Office (CENRO), Provincial ENR Office (PENRO), other national government agencies and the students from different universities, gathered at the Iloilo River Esplanade II for the warm-up Zumba dance prior to jogging to the area where they picked up plastic trash.
An estimated 875 kilograms of plastic trash were collected by the participants, as shown by the data from City ENRO. The event culminated with the hand imprinting for the Environmental Manifesto of Support.
The theme: “Hawak Kamay, Tubig Kaagapay,” is a local adaptation of the international theme Leaving No One Behind. The theme is anchored on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which is aimed at benefiting every human on the planet.
“The World Water Day is to inspire everybody to take a closer look on the importance of water. Water is a very precious resource for without it, we will not see anything around us,” said DENR 6 ARD for Management Services Jesse L. Vego in his message.
Miss Mitzi Peñaflorida of the Provincial ENRO encouraged the students to have good discipline in disposing their wastes, especially plastics. “We cannot avoid plastics because it is part of our system, like we use shampoo sachets every day. But we can do something in being responsible by our way of disposing it,” she notes.
Engr. Noel Hechanova underscored the development of the Iloilo River which has become the city’s pride. “For many years, we have been rehabilitating the Iloilo River where aquatic life also thrives. In terms of public investment, we put in more than PHP2 Billion already, part of that investment is this Esplanade which is originally a flood control project but was also developed as park,” he disclosed.
DENR-6 Regional Executive Director (RED) Francisco E. Milla, Jr. always encouraged DENR employees especially those in field offices, to clean-up their rivers as it is part of DENR’s mandate to protect, conserve and manage the environment and natural resources.
Environment secretary Roy Cimatu is seriously pursuing the cleaning up of all rivers in the country, as it reflects government’s efficiency in managing its natural resources. Pursuing Clean Water for the county is number two in his ten-priority programs./PN
