MANILA, Philippines - Green advocates decried on Saturday the massive garbage left by thousands of pilgrims during the "Alay-Lakad" penitential walk last Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
According to EcoWaste Coalition, the long stretch of Ortigas Avenue Extension, which traverses Pasig City, Antipolo City, and Cainta and Taytay in Rizal, was littered with assorted trash such as clear plastic bags for drinking water and coolers (palamig), plastic straws, cups and bottles, chips wrappers, paper scraps, cigarette butts and food leftovers.
"The Antipolo Cathedral, home to the miraculous icon, the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, was 'carpeted' with scattered newspapers used by pilgrims that kept church caretakers very busy on Earth Day, which was also Good Friday," Eco-Waste said.
According to a parish personnel interviewed by EcoWaste last Friday, the 15 staff assigned to clean up the church compound were likely to consume the 150 big garbage bags set aside for the massive occasion.
"We are saddened by the seemingly apathetic pilgrims who spoiled the penitential trail to Antipolo Cathedral with plastic rubbish and other garbage," Manny Calonzo of EcoWaste said.
"While we're delighted to see families and friends walk together to fulfill their sacrificial vows, we could not help but moan about the uninspiring environmental indifference of some pilgrims as if Mother Earth does not matter. Littering was so extensive even though it is banned by Republic Act (RA) 9003 and related local environmental laws," he added.
RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, lists littering, throwing and dumping of waste matters in public places as prohibited acts under the law's penal provision.
Antipolo City, which produces 139 tons of trash daily, has enacted Ordinance 2008-287, also known as the "Basura Code," which prohibits littering, while Ordinance 2009-370, bans plastic bags and polystyrene containers.
EcoWaste volunteers said yellow-clad "Clean and Green" personnel of the Antipolo City government swept up the roads leading to the Cathedral as small trucks hauled the garbage to a disposal site.
Also, child and adult wastepickers were seen painstakingly retrieving recyclables left behind by the pilgrims.
EcoWaste said the garbage collected from the church and the streets of Antipolo would then be dumped at the city's waste disposal facility located in Tanza I, Barangay San Jose, while the recyclables would be sold to junk shops.
