THE Davao Ancillary Services Unit (ASU) will be the lead office which will oversee the weekly coastal cleanups to be conducted by volunteers of Bantay Dagat program launched by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio last Saturday, October 21.
ASU chief Rhodelio Poliquit said part of his job is to coordinate with designated barangay captains, councilors, and at the same time, the Davao City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) for the collection points of the wastes of 26 coastal barangays.
“This Bantay Dagat program was formed by Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio to guard and clean our coastlines. The residents in the coastal areas are asked not to throw their garbage at the sea, but to the proper areas,” he said.
Poliquit added that volunteers for Bantay Dagat will clean every Saturday while 30 identified individuals per barangay will also clean every first and third Saturday of the month and avail food for works.
“We have 300 Bantay Dagat volunteers as of the moment, they were recommended by the barangays officials,” he said.
Poliquit said the Bantay Dagat volunteers will receive from City Mayor’s Office an incentive of P500 per Saturday or P2,000 per month. But if the volunteers will use boats to do their job, they will receive P1,000 per Saturday.
He said the executive order was already signed by the city mayor for the program.
Poliquit said there are already laws providing penalties on improper throwing of garbage and what they hope is to intensify the program more to the point the residents will be afraid to throw their waste in the water.