As part of our mission and commitment to the community, the 1st Coastal Clean-up Drive was organized last August 8, 2019 at the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) or more commonly known as Freedom Island.
With a turn-out of 131 volunteers—support from employees of SPAVI CSO and Operations, Peri-Peri, and WWF-Philippines, it was definitely more than expected. Rain or shine, this group wasn’t planning on backing down.
The program started with opening remarks from our CEO and President, Mr. Vic Gregorio, to remind us of the importance of this advocacy. This was followed by a short briefing from one of LPPCHEA’s workers, Mr. Romar Porbido.
After which, our volunteers proceeded to the clean-up site and started immediately collecting and segregating as much waste as they can. These various wastes washed ashore came from different areas—specifically Las Piñas, Parañaque, Cavite, and Bataan.
Despite the uncooperative weather, by the end of this activity, our C&E Manager, Mr. Chester Briones happily announced that we were able to collect a total of 214 sacks or 1,514.70 kilos of waste items composed of plastics, rubbers, PET bottles, styrofoam items, glass and cans.
To close the event, our HR-OE Director, Mr. Teddy Ruiz, gave his moving remarks, stating that we need to take care of three Ps: People—our internal and external guests, Pizza—the organization, and Planet—our one and only, Mother Earth.
The goal of this activity was not only to help reduce the waste at Freedom Island and promote cleanliness, but to also be able to raise awareness on the impact of waste to our environment and promote volunteerism for future projects supporting this advocacy.