Black Nazarene devotees leave 43 trucks of trash after traslacion

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has collected more than 43 trucks of garbage a day after the traslacion, or the procession marking the Feast of the Black Nazarene last Wednesday, an official said yesterday.

Francis Martinez, head of the MMDA’s Metro Parkways Clearing Group, said the 146.59 tons of garbage consisted mostly of plastic bottles, styrofoam boxes and plastic bags used to hold ice-cold water.

While he emphasized that the MMDA personnel are ready to do their jobs, Martinez asked devotees to either refrain from bringing food or be responsible enough to properly dispose of the waste.

He also appealed to those providing food for the devotees to avoid using plastic containers.

The city government of Manila, on the other hand, said its Department of Public Safety’s Task Force Cleanup collected at least 88 trucks of garbage since Quiapo Church started the runup to the traslacion on Dec. 30, 2018 up to yesterday morning.

Six trucks of garbage were collected in the vicinity of Quiapo Church, not including Plaza Miranda, according to task force chief Che Borromeo.

Street sweepers assigned to follow the procession collected four truckloads of garbage along the route while another six truckloads of trash were collected after the “pahalik” at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Borromeo said.

Most of the garbage collected by the city government were plastic bags, styrofoam boxes and plastic bottles. 

Last year, 99 trucks of garbage were collected by the city government.