ILOILO – Nearly four metric tons of garbage were hauled from the shorelines of six coastal barangays in Oton town, exposing the volume of waste accumulating along the municipality’s coast even as more than 1,000 volunteers joined a massive cleanup drive.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 6, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) Iloilo and Oton municipal government collected 403 sacks of waste weighing a combined 3,760.8 kilograms during the coastal cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 19.
The operation covered the coastal barangays of Trapiche, Poblacion South, Poblacion East, Alegre, Botong and Cabanban.
A total of 1,157 volunteers from various sectors joined DENR-6 and PENRO Iloilo personnel in clearing the shorelines as part of the observance of International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day 2026.
This year’s ICC carried the theme, “Clean Seas for Resilient Communities.”
The DENR-led cleanup in Barangays Trapiche and Poblacion South was spearheaded by DENR-6 Officer-in-Charge Regional Executive Director Ramar Niel V. Pascua.
He was joined by Executive Assistant Juan Miguel Flores, representing Oton mayor Sofronio L. Fusin; Oton Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer Menchie Paniergo; DENR-6 Conservation and Development Division chief Gloria Flores; and DENR-6 Regional Strategic Communication and Initiatives Group chief Artemio Salvador C. Colacion.
In a message read by Pascua, DENR secretary Juan Miguel Cuna stressed that beyond the familiar environmental principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, another “R” — responsibility — is crucial in translating environmental policies into concrete action.
“Environmental protection is our shared duty—through Bayanihan, we can build cleaner, safer, and more resilient communities for future generations,” according to DENR-6.
Meanwhile, PENRO Iloilo led cleanup operations along the shorelines of Barangays Poblacion East, Alegre, Botong and Cabanban.
Volunteers in these areas alone collected 217 sacks containing 2,193.2 kilograms of plastic waste and other non-biodegradable materials.
DENR-6 thanked the volunteers and participants across the different ICC sites for helping carry out the coastal cleanup, emphasizing collective responsibility in keeping shorelines clean and protecting coastal communities.
The International Coastal Cleanup is observed worldwide to mobilize communities in removing trash from beaches, waterways and coastal areas while drawing attention to marine pollution and the need to prevent waste from reaching the sea./PN
