Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that apart from the regular garbage collection being undertaken by the city’s blue garbage trucks, narrow alleys in the city are being cleaned up through door-to-door collection using mini-collection equipment manned by barangay eco-boys.
He said the city government has also deployed a 250-man sweeper brigade to keep major city streets free of litter as part of the efficient clean-up system of the city.
The mayor said the "clean city" initiative being undertaken at the barangay level is both a necessity as well as a competitive advantage over other local government units in the metropolis.
"It is an indicator of our concern for order, for the health of our residents and for the environment," he said.
The city government spends an average P48 million a month to keep the city clean and green.
Apart from door-to-door garbage collection, the city government’s Riverways Sanitation Services, in coordination with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, also regularly clears waterways of debris. Complementing the waterways clean-up is the annual Sagip Batis program being carried out by volunteers from the barangays living along the banks of creeks and rivers that traverse the city.
Sagip Batis, which contributed to the significant reduction of flooding in the city, was earlier recognized as a sound practice for mega cities by the Japan-based National Research Institute for Earth Sciences. – Perseus Echeminada