Volunteers participate in the annual International Coastal Cleanup Day at the Manila Bay on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. (Photo by CANDICE REYES)

MANILA, Philippines — On the occasion of the International Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, green advocates called for full public disclosure of industrial discharges into freshwater sources, such as the Laguna de Bay.

The group Greenpeace said the measure would determine the dangers posed by toxic effluents and allow the public to know the composition of such discharges.

As part of the event, hundreds of youth from the Laguna Youth Development Affairs Office joined Greenpeace in cleaning up the shores of Calamba on Saturday.

The Laguna youth picked up and segregated garbage from the shore, while Greenpeace volunteers on brightly-colored rubber boats and kayaks picked up garbage from the water.

The Greenpeace boats also unfurled a banner saying, “What lies beneath? Our waters, our right to know!”

According to Greenpeace Southeast Asia toxics campaigner Beau Baconguis, the message is meant to highlight the unseen threats.

“We want to point to the fact that there is a kind of pollution that may be invisible to the eye, but may prove to be bigger hazards. Unfortunately,

pollution information are not made available to the public. Therefore, they are unable to protect themselves,” Baconguis said.

As this developed, Greenpeace recommends the setting up of a pollution disclosure system, such as a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register

(PRTR), as a tool to empower the public and help curb pollution.

A PRTR would provide the people with a database system from which they could check the health of water sources and identify hotspots.

The system would provide industries with a comprehensive measurement to check, compare, and improve their processes, and make their businesses more viable.

Greenpeace last week held a skill sharing workshop with non-government organizations (NGOs), government officials, community representatives, business and other groups on PRTR, setting up as well a loose collective of people that has started exploring possibilities for moving this initiative forward in the Philippines.

The International Coastal Cleanup drive is the world’s largest one-day volunteer effort to clean up the marine environment.

Every September, volunteers from over 100 countries descend on local beaches, rivers, lakes, and even canals to show their commitment to cleaner waterways.

More than half-a-million people, all over the world, remove millions of pounds of trash from beaches and waterways, and collect data on what they find.

Analyzed and tracked year by year, this information serves as a powerful tool for educating the public, influencing public policy, and effecting positive behavioral change on the part of individuals, organizations, and communities.