THE MISSION:

It all began with a little green flyer which found itself to my desk, not really getting noticed since it had less than 50% visuals. Later on during traffic, I read about it's call for people to volunteer themselves for an operation called the International Coastal Cleanup or ICC. It's mission: to clear the beaches and waterways of anything that didn't belong there.

Soon after that, I learned from Liza (from International Marinelife Alliance, the group spearheading this event), about the thousands of environmentalists from more than a hundred countries who'd flock to the beaches just to participate in this annual event - , how the numbers of volunteers grow from year to year (75,000 from the Philippines), how hundreds of kilometers or coastlines are cleared, and facts such as enough cigarette butts were collected to make over 30,438 packs of cigarettes.

I also heard horror stories of divers finding an endangered Pawikan turtle suffocated by a plastic bag, thinking this was its favorite jellyfish meal.  Or about the dead coral reefs on the ocean floor - caused by a plastic bag covering it's surface from the sun's rays, needing 250 years to regrow. It didn't take me long to commit myself to making this event known to as many people as possible - and for them to get involved.

Many emails, calls and conversations later, people I knew were starting it in their school orgs., barkadas and offices. I was excited mostly though for the time when I myself went and did my part. Although I must admit I had my doubts if this would really make a difference or if it was a wise thing to do. I thought, what if it rained and we all got sick and died of tetanus or dengue doing this stuff? (Is there such a thing as an environment martyr?)

THE TROOPS:

I then started to form my "troop" for the mission: Braving whatever condition - rain or shine, willing to conquer smoky mountain type-garbage piles, my team was made up of 2 working moms,(my sisters) a super busy single woman,(a friend) a MacGyver-type all around handyman (our driver, carpenter, electrician...), and the most reluctant, a 72-yr. old sailor (my dad).

Our COMBAT GEAR: gloves, rake, sunblock, sticks, garbage bags, hats, (not to mention a LOT of determination). Most importantly, we had our ICC Data Card to record, and tabulate all the types of trash we collected, which after compilation on a global scale, would be used for research, awareness campaigns, and legislation.

Our LOCATION: A resort (which will for the moment be nameless for obvious reasons) in Rosario, Cavite. Due to it's proximity to Manila, we decided this area needed the most help.

THEN CAME D-DAY:

Sept. 26, 8:00 a.m. departure from Makati... reaching the location at

AAARGH! 10:30 a.m. due to (you guessed it) traffic. (Never pass the Coastal Road on Saturdays.) Anyway, reaching the place, we overheard the guests saying "Grabe, look at this place, it wasn't this dirty last year!"  Even before disembarking our van, we donned our gloves and reached for our garbage bags and data cards...,long awaiting our task at hand. Then, the resort caretaker approached my dad and said, "Sorry sir, tag-ulan kasi ngayon eh, kaya madumi."  (Sorry sir, it's rainy season that's why it's so dirty.") My dad said, "Yun nga ang hinahanap namin eh!"   (That's what we're looking for!)

And she said, "Palabiro pala si Sir!"  (What a joker you are Sir!)    At that, we all smilingly raised our cleaning paraphernalia and the woman sort of looked speechless... not knowing what to think.

Looking at the place, one could say it was hard to differentiate the sand from the trash. But surprisingly, our hearts didn't sink, rather, we all got to work. We looked like a bunch of scientists with the data cards, diligently recording all the different kinds of trash.

"2 plastic food wrappers."

"1 piece of rubber, what is this? A tire?"

"Hey look, it's a picture frame!"

"Hmmm, what do you think this is?..."

"Ew, it's a sanitary napkin!"

"1 Tretorn shoe"

"Air pot."

"3 Diapers"...

I could hear my dad a few meters away, saying, "You know? We're learning something here... or "We have more plastic than you guys!" I was marvelling at the fact that we hardly saw any paper there. It was predominantly a plastic mountain. And it wasn't smelly too (thank God).