|
POLICE ECO WARRIORS CLEAN-UP PALAWAN COASTS --- Police and local government officials led by Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn (with cap) and Police Director Leopoldo N Bataoil (3rd from right) inspect the heaps of garbage removed by PNP Special Boat Unit divers from Honda Bay in Palawan on October 11, 2008. The PNP launched Scubasurero'08, a nationwide coastal clean-up project initiated by PNP Chief, Director General Jesus A. Verzosa. At right are Chief Supt Luisito Palmera, MIMAROPA PNP Director and Chief Supt Angelo Sunglao, Director of the PNP Maritime Group. The Philippine National Police, living-up to its commitment to protect the environment, spearheaded a nationwide drive to clean the country's coastal waters. PNP Chief, Director General Jesus A Verzosa personally led PNP officers and personnel in "Scubasurero", a coastal clean-up project "The PNP supports all environmental protection initiatives of the national government particularly the preservation of the marine environment," Verzosa said.
A certified scuba diver trained as a combat and rescue swimmer, Verzosa led PNP diving teams from the PNP Maritime Group and other PNP units in cleaning the coastal waters and off-shore reefs in San Juan, Batangas which is part of the 494,700-hectare Verde Passage Marine Biodiversity Conservation Corridor (MBCC). "The activity will jumpstart a wider and continuing advocacy campaign of environmental protection nationwide. This will be initiated at the local level by the PNP regional and provincial offices," the PNP Chief said. According to PNP Spokesman, Chief Superintendent Nicanor A Bartolome, Scubasurero also aims to heighten public awareness to global environmental concerns, particularly on environment protection. "Afterall, the PNP is not only maka-Diyos, makabayan, and makatao—we are also maka-kalikasan as we express every time we sing our PNP Hymn," Bartolome said. International environmental organizations consider the Coral Triangle as the global center of marine biodiversity-- formed across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Solomon Islands. The Coral Triangle is home to over 600 reef-building coral species or 75% of all species known to science, and more than 3,000 species of reef fish. America's Smithsonian Institute places Verde Passage at the peak of the world's Coral Triangle or "the center of the center of marine biodiversity in the world" because of its highest marine biodiversity with the greatest number of shallow water habitats and coral reefs. It lies between waters off Batangas on the north, Mindoro on the south, Lubang Island on the west, and Tayabas Bay on the east. Marine scientists found the Verde Passage MBCC as having a high concentration of species per unit area. |
In Service of the Community 
