THE Cebu City government will initiate a coastal cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020, by the Kinalumsan and Mahiga Rivers starting 6 a.m.

In a press conference on Friday, Sept. 18, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 Director Lormelyn Claudio said a cleanup must be done, considering the condition of the Mahiga River now.

Claudio recalled that Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu instructed her office and the Cebu City government to hold a river cleanup as a way to revive some of the city’s rivers.

Cimatu gave the instruction when he was still the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Covid-19 response overseer in Cebu.

Claudio said the mouth of the two rivers will be prioritized during the cleanup drive.

Reymarr Hijara, sub-committee chairperson of Cebu City Coastal Management Task Force, said equipment from the Department of Public Services (DPS), City Engineering Office and Cebu-Cordova Link Exressway Corp. will be used during the cleanup.

Eddie Llamedo, chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 Planning and Management Division, said only selected individuals are allowed to participate in the Sept. 19 cleanup including personnel of the City Government, some government agencies and private partner industries.

Llamedo also said the daily cleanup actually started on second week of August.

Mahiga River is a 9.1 kilometers long and traverses the barangays of Apas, Banilad (Cebu City), Kasambagan, Banilad (Mandaue City), Mabolo and Subangdako.

The Kinalumsan River, on the other hand, measures 11.3 kilometers from upstream in Buhisan, Cebu City, traversing four barangays before its waters drain to the Mactan Channel. (JJL)