Around 500 local officials and residents of Bacoor and Las Piñas cities yesterday started the regular synchronized cleanup of the once-pristine 18.3-kilometer Zapote River.
The joint cleanup activity in the two cities at  Barangay Pulang Lupa Uno was the result of the dialogue between and among the barangay leaders of Bacoor and Las Piñas and representatives of the two city governments, the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s National Capital Region and Region IV-A offices.
The dialogue was made after DILG-NCR Director Renato Brion issued a show-cause order to the barangay governments of Las Piñas to justify the continuous flooding in the barangays near Zapote River caused by garbage that accumulated along its riverbanks.
During the dialogue, Brion stressed that there should be a regular and joint cleanup activity by the barangays in the two cities, particularly those near Zapote River,  every other Saturday in order to restore the cleanliness of river.
“Bacoor and Las Pi?as should work hand in hand to save Zapote River,” he said.
In earlier times, Zapote River was the salt factory of Old Manila but it became a huge garbage dump after people from nearby towns migrated to Las Piñas because of lesser travel time brought about by the construction of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.
Expected to join the cleanup are DILG Assistant Secretary Rolando Acosta, Region IV-A Director Josefina Castilla-Go, residents from Brgys. Pulang Lupa Uno, Zapote, Pamplona Uno, Pamplona Dos, Talon V, Almanza Uno, Almanza Dos and Talon Dos, all in Las Piñas; contingents from the Philippine National Police, non-government organizations and daughters of veterans in the city; and representatives from Operation Tulong of radio station dzRH.