September, 12 2024

The Cagayan De Oro City government adopted WWF-Philippines’ “Takpul” event — which combines the words “takbo” and “pulot” — to cap off their month-long Higalaay Festival or Festival of Friendship. 

On August 30, the last day of the Higalaay Festival, over 560 volunteers in Cagayan De Oro City took part in the early morning Takpul. Participants from the local government, the academe, faith-based groups, non-government organizations and other sectors, were divided into four groups with their own routes, covering 2.4 kilometers each. They were each assigned a type of waste to collect: either plastics such as PET bottles or residual waste. 

“Ginawa natin sa Higalaay Festival ‘yung Takpul para sa awareness ng mga tao,” says August Paul Bacarrisas, staff member of the Cagayan De Oro City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office who led the organization of the Takpul. 

“If may mga opportunities na makahelp sa environment, talagang kina-cater namin at iniimplement namin and then irereplicate namin down to the barangay level para talaga ‘yung awareness ng mga tao sa importansya ng solid waste management especially sa avoidance and production of waste.”

[Translation: We incorporated the Takpul into our Higalaay Festival to raise awareness. We cater, implement and replicate down to the barangay level opportunities to help the environment to raise awareness on the importance of solid waste management especially on avoidance and production of waste.]

The participants collected a total of 623.92 kilograms of waste at the end of the one-hour run, of which 57% were plastic and 43% were residual. 

WWF-Philippines first launched “Takpul” ahead of its 2024 Earth Hour celebration, tapping students in Manila City. Takpul is the local version of the “plogging” practice that started in Sweden, merging the two words: jogging and plocka upp, the Swedish word for “to pick up.”

WWF-Philippines hopes that more cities and communities will continue to implement educational programs such as the Takpul in order to engage their communities to ensure that no waste will leak into the environment. 

“Mahalaga na napakita ng LGU sa bawat miyembro ng komunidad na kaya namang tayo mismo ang mag linis sa ating kapaligiran at hindi kinakailangang maghintay sa LGU dahil tayo-tayo rin ang maapektuhan kung magkakaroon ng kalamidad,” says Jose Ricky Biyo, Project Manager of WWF-Philippines’ Marine Litter Project which worked with the CDO LGU on the event. 

[Translation: It is important that the LGU demonstrated to every member of the community that they can have the initiative to clean their surroundings because we are all affected by what happens to our environment, especially calamities]