By Perla Lena/Philippine News Agency
ILOILO CITY – Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on Wednesday ordered his regional director in Western Visayas to take the lead in the cleanup of rivers and shorelines in Panay Island.
“This is really the direction and I’m very happy that in Metro Manila they are all interested in environmental cleanup, not only the water quality but garbage because the culprit of all problems in the environment is garbage,” Cimatu said during a press conference.
Cimatu was in this city for the National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development (NCI-SRD) summit.
As he directed the field office of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Western Visayas to spearhead the initiative, he said he will also discuss the cleanup activity as what is being done in Boracay Island and Manila Bay when he meets with mayors and governors of the region on July 25.
“We will be cleaning up all over our country because that is the one that brings us the problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, apart from the discussion on the cleanup drive, Cimatu will also tackle with the region’s local chief executives his plan of making Panay as the “center of bamboo production in the country”.
“The main driver of development I’m looking into is the production of bamboo,” he said.
He said of all places in the country, Panay Island has a massive bamboo plantation.
He said there is a technology that makes use of engineered bamboo, which is even stronger than bamboo.
“I would like to use that technology here in Panay,” he said.
The NCI-SRD summit gathered various key members of convergence areas from all over the country for discussions on ensuring the sustainability of rural development from reef to ridge.
The summit anchors on the theme “Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Enterprise: Investment Opportunities for Inclusive Growth in the Countryside”.
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