AFTER drawing flak over social media, the Davao Bamboo Sanctuary and Ecological Park will be cancelling its plan to release balloons as part of its New Year's Eve celebration.

"We do apologize for the unease this has caused many of us. It is a miscommunication on our part as we intend to have it inside the enclosed area. Nonetheless, we assure you that we will stay true and reaffirm our commitment to protect our ecosystem. In view of our shared advocacy, we will drop that part of our program," the park said in a Facebook post Saturday, December 29.

This is our public advisory for our NYE event 2018 We do apologize for the unease this has caused many of us. It is a...

Posted by Davao Bamboo Sanctuary and Ecological Park on Saturday, December 29, 2018
The ecological park earlier posted a poster for its New Year's Eve celebration wherein part of the activities is releasing balloons "to the sky." The post quickly drew the ire of netizens. The post has since then been deleted.

Prior to the cancellation of the balloon release, the Climate Reality Project Philippines condemned the action saying that it was "utter arrogance" on the part of the management of an ecological park to hold such activity.

"We remind the organizers that all balloons released will end in areas which will harm wildlife, marine and terrestrial ecosystems and even clog sewage systems, among others. This is intentional violation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of RA 9003," the environmental group said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, the Davao Bamboo Sanctuary and Ecological Park's decision to cancel the release of the balloons was praised by netizens.

"Hope in the future, whether indoors or outdoors, we can celebrate without single-use material," said Dave Gumban Albao.

"Thank you for listening! I hope we always consider our environment when planning to have activities like this. Mabuhay po! #DropBalloonDrop," said Ronan Renz Napoto.