'Ensure efficient garbage collection during Undas'

MANILA, Philippines - While ensuring peaceful and hassle-free observance of All Saints’ Day, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo ordered governors and mayors to ensure efficient collection of garbage and cleanup in cemeteries during and after the holiday.

Robredo said cleanup and garbage collection should be part of the plan of local government units (LGUs) for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

“Local governments should firm up their security plans for a crime-free, stress-free and garbage-free Undas,” he said.

“While we honor our dead, let us make sure that we do not forsake our environment by undertaking cleanup efforts after Undas,” he added.

Robredo directed all local government officials to mobilize and deploy law enforcers and barangay tanods in the vicinity of cemeteries to ensure peaceful and orderly observance of All Saints’ Day.

He said policemen and other barangay officials must also be visible in other critical areas in their respective cities and towns to prevent the entry of lawless elements.

In Pangasinan, meanwhile, 90 percent of the police force will be deployed in streets to man checkpoints and assistance centers, and conduct mobile and foot patrols to ensure a crime-free All Saints’ Day observance, said Superintendent Geraldo Roxas, police-community relations officer of the provincial police.

For its part, the Highway Patrol Group in Region 4-A (Calabarzon) is fielding road safety marshals, including volunteers from various groups, to ensure hassle-free travel for vacationers from Metro Manila. – With Eva Visperas, Ed Amoroso