SENATOR Cynthia Villar renewed her pitch for a clean and green environment as she joined the nation in observance of the National Clean Up Month this September by virtue of Proclamation No. 244.

The World Clean and Green Week is also observed from September 17 to 23 every year.

The events encourage all communities to clean up and conserve the environment as the country’s contribution to the worldwide environmental preservation efforts.

Prior to the pandemic, Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, has been leading series of clean-up activites and mangrove planting in different parts of the National Capital Region.

“We would like to again and again instill in the minds of the public awareness on the importance of having a clean and green environment in our lives, especially now that we are facing a global health crisis,”said Villar.

“The children of our children and our great, great grandchildren would definitely reap the gains of our initiatives in working for s healthy environment and preserving them,” also added Villar.

Aside from mangrove planting, the senator has also been pushing for urban gardening and repeatedly calling on the public to grow their own foods even in small patches of lands and empty containers.

Furthermore, the senator has been actively participating in programs to clean and rehabilitate Manila Bay, touted as having the best sunset in the world.

More than a decade after the Supreme Court issued a mandamus compelling government agencies and local government units to clean up and rehabilitate Manila Bay, Villar admitted “we still have a long way to go before we restore the bay to its pristine condition.”

She continues to be at the forefront of the fight against Manila Bay reclamation in order to preserve the Las Pinas-Paranaque Wetland Park, a 175-hectare critical area situated south of Manila Bay, is a Wetland of International Importance that was accorded protection against the threat of reclamation through the Villar-authored Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-NIPAS) Act.

The senator pushes to put more areas under government protection through the E-NIPAS Act.

“We have to put in place adequate conservation measures and appropriate management schemes to safeguard the biodiversity of ecologically rich and biologically important areas in our country so that present and future generations will continue to benefit from it,” stressed Villar.

The senator is the principal author of the E-NIPAS Act which expanded the list of protected areas from 13 to 107. These include popular tourism destinations as well as internationally-recognized critical zones. The law was signed on June 22, 2018.