By Fae Ucat (McKeough Marine Center)

In celebration of the International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICC), Xavier Ateneo community spearheaded by the McKeough Marine Center (MMC), joined the annual Macajalar Bay coastal clean-up, on September 21, in four coastal areas, namely, Solana, Jasaan (XU Marine Station), barangays Agusan, Bayabas, and Macabalan in Cagayan de Oro City.

This year, a total of 197 volunteers from Xavier Ateneo participated in the organized coastal clean-up.

The Xavier Ateneo contingent was composed of the following: Ateneo Philosophy Club, Ateneo Outdoors Recreation Society (AORS), Biophilic Society, Central Student Government (Social Involvement), Nature Crusaders, NSTP- ISDA classes, Philosophy classes, Student Social Involvement and Advocacy Program (SSIAP) of Social Development Office, and McKeough Marine Center. The Xavier Ateneo was also joined by the employees of the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) and the local communities from host barangays.

Xavier Ateneo coastal clean-up volunteers picked up trashes, identified, and segregated them, and put them inside the sacks.

Host barangays took charge of disposing the collected trashes.

Data cards were filled out during the clean-up to count and identify the trashes (e.g. plastic, metal, etc). The results would then be consolidated by MMC and submitted to Macajalar Bay Development Alliance to come up with a bay-wide report on the trashes found in our coasts.

Data gathered will assist MBDA and the LGUs in policy-making and in the development of Information Education Campaign (IEC) materials to address the marine debris problem in the Bay.

The coastal clean-up activity is a concretization of the mission statement of Xavier University to participate in the Jesuit mission of "reconciliation with God, with others, and with creation, specifically in protecting our natural environment and resources."

MMC is hopeful that Xavier Ateneo community and everyone will become more motivated to practice proper waste disposal in schools and in their homes.∎

Coastal Clean-up 2019 in XU Marine Station, Brgy. Solana, Jasaan, Misamis Oriental by the Ateneo Outdoors Recreation Society, Biophilic Society, and Cagayan de Oro Water District

Coastal clean-up 2019 in Brgy. Agusan by the Ateneo Philosophy Club, Nature Crusaders, and Philosophy Classes

Coastal clean-up 2019 in Brgy. Bayabas by Xavier Ateneo NSTP ISDA Program Batches 1 & 2 with the MMC director, Fr Mars P Tan, SJ and Brgy Secretary Edgar Veloso of Bayabas, Cagayan de Oro City.