Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson led the clean and green clean-up campaign that took off as early as 6 a.m. Saturday along major streets in Bacolod City, which was participated in by city officials and employees, non-government organizations, the police, and the private sector.

The mayor was joined by and Councilors Em Ang, Mona Dia Jardin and Al Victor Espino, barangay Department of Education officials.

The Clean and Green campaign is chaired by Sampaguita Lions Club president Myrna Servando with Councilors Sonya Verdeflor, Ang and Jardin as vice chairmen.

Jardin, Association of Barangay Captains president, said they divided Bacolod into north, south and central, but they concentrated the clean-up drive in the downtown area on Saturday. This covered Magsaysay Street to the boundary of Bacolod and Talisay, she said.

This is just a kick-off of the campaign but the clean-up will continue every Saturday and in different areas with different volunteers, Jardin said. They see the activity as a public-private partnership since there were private companies who helped them clean the streets of Bacolod, she said.

Jardin said the city employees rendered voluntary service at no cost to the government.

“We employees have shown that we can do our share in cleaning up our streets in Bacolod,” she said. She also lauded the private sector for their participation.

City officials led by the mayor who joined the initial staging of the campaign expressed enthusiasm in the early morning drive which they said would set the stage for the residents to follow, a press release from City Hall said.

The city employees, NGO, and barangay officials and their employees painted the gutters, uprooted undesirable grasses, picked up littered papers, wastes, and cleaned walls of eyesores, like bills, along Lacson, Aguinaldo and Gatuslao streetss and assured that they were ready for the subsequent rounds of clean- up activities, it said

Leonardia asked Servando to inform business establishments about the campaign which she, together with Jardin, described as one which will set the pace for everyone to follow as a social responsibility, the press release said.

Secretary to the Mayor Rogelio Balo said the clean-up drive will be done regularly from the major thoroughfares to the minor streets and that the first day clean-up was a very good start.

Social Services and Development head Sally Abelarde and Bacolod Schools Superintendent Gemma Ledesma said they felt good about the early morning clean- up with the strong participation of those in the service and as a leading example to the community, the press release added.*CGS

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