THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) collected more than 39,000 kilos of waste from the recent cleanup activity held at the northern part of the Corregidor Island in support to the intensified effort of the government to clean and rehabilitate the Manila Bay.

Paquito Moreno Jr., executive director of the DENR in Central Luzon, said the initiative aimed to keep the Corregidor shoreline clean, as this served as the entry point of the Manila Bay in the southern part of Central Luzon.

“Through this initiative, we are preventing waste from reaching our jurisdiction, especially those which may be carried in our shorelines during high tides,” Moreno said.

Solid waste usually composed of styrofoam, food wrappers, packaging materials, plastic bottles, fishing nets, ropes, and slippers were collected by the DENR, together with partners from Philippine Coastguard Station in Lamao and Corregidor Island, Philippine Navy, Philippine Marine Corps Coastal Defense Regiment, Corregidor Foundation Inc., Philippine Ports Authority, Philippine Information Agency in Bataan, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office of Mariveles, and Barangay Lamao in Limay.

Corregidor Island is part of the Calabarzon region, but it is geographically nearer to Mariveles, Bataan, only three nautical miles away from Barangay Mt. View.

The DENR continues to urge the public to properly segregate their waste at home to protect river systems in the region from pollution.

Since the Manila Bay cleanup and rehabilitation program commenced on 2019, the DENR has collected more than 18 million kilos of wastes from 8,722 cleanup activities conducted in Bataan.

The province is part of the 190-length of the Manila Bay area in Central Luzon. Of this, 78-kilometer is part of the coastline of Bataan.