The image of a mother in Carles, IIoilo carrying her infant near a heap of burning trash which included styrofoam and other food packages is still vivid in my mind. I lost no time in telling her to stop the burning and about its harmful effects to her and the kid, especially with plastic and styrofoam, possibly laden with a carcinogenic hazardous substance called styrene. We talked about the law which is so rich in possibilities for creating safe and sustainable communities but so awfully taken for granted. This statute is none other than RA 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
On Jan. 26, 2001, then newly-installed president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed it into law. Thirteen years thereafter, we still have to see from the stakeholders that desired mind-set of care and responsibility for one’s used resources. To our detriment, only a handful of local government units truly understand why it has to be implemented.
Not a few correlate wastes with methane, a toxic greenhouse gas (GHG) said to be 20 times more potent that carbon dioxide, another GHG. Dumpsites emit methane and other toxic substances. While GHG are needed to keep us warm, too much of them like what is happening now not only pollute the air, they are responsible for the changed climate to which we now have to learn to adapt. They are expected to stay in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Can we afford to add more?
The ESWM Law decentralized the responsibility to manage our wastes to barangays, municipalities and cities which have distinct functions. Barangays are responsible for collecting biodegradable and recyclable wastes and for setting up materials recovery facilities. Municipalities and cities are required to manage and collect non-recyclable, non-compostable, special wastes including household hazardous wastes and bulk wastes. Local government units are all required to establish a multi-sectoral SWM board or committees, characterize their wastes, enact the solid waste management plan, and minimize wastes at least 25 percent every five years. Open and controlled dumpsites are prohibited.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is the principal agency vested by the law to ensure its implementation and is given visitorial powers, among others. The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC), made up of inter-agency officials, including the officers of the Ligas, is mandated to set up the list of non-environmentally acceptable products (NEAPs) within one year from the law’s effectivity.
After 13 years, DENR, the NSWMC and the LGUs have failed and refused to comply with their mandates under the law. DENR issues cease and desist orders to local government units (LGUs) operating illegal dumpsites, it is true. But, has it taken the defaulting LGUs to court to hold them accountable?
The mind-set of segregation and zero waste is still to be inculcated among a large section of the constituents. One sees plastic bags, cigarette butts, candy wrappers littering the streets, canals and beaches.
One wonders why billions of pesos nationwide are allowed by the Commission on Audit or even the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as supervising entity, to be allocated as tipping fees for garbage collection when LGUs have not even taken the first and foremost duty of crafting the roadmap for ecologically sound waste management. Crafting a solid waste management plan is proving to be a tremendous challenge. How many LGUs nationwide has NSWMC-approved SWM plans?
Despite the massive non-implementation of the law, has there been anyone from the public sector held accountable by the Ombudsman or the Office of the President for violation of the law and for gross dereliction of duties?
RA 9003’s goals of waste avoidance, minimization, and resource conservation for the protection of public health and the environment and to ward off climate change are still that – goals, with few notable exceptions. These exemplary LGUs include Puerto Princesa City, Batangas City, Barangay Fort Bonifacio in Taguig, Muntinlupa City (the first to ban or regulate the use of plastic bags), Angeles City’s laudable Zero Waste City Hall Project, San Fernando City in Pampanga, and Cebu’s San Francisco municipality in Camotes Island.
LGUs which are successful in implementation partner with nongovernment organizations such as Mother Earth Foundation, Plan International and Ecowaste Coaltion, and are of participatory mindframe.
According to Mother Earth Foundation, the secret of the success of San Fernando, Pampanga’s ESWM Program are leadership and political will, continuity of programs irrespective of change in leadership, active solid waste board, incentive and financial support, institutionalized and dedicated City Environment and Natural Resources Office or Cenro and decentralization where barangays and puroks ensure a strict “no segregation, no collection” policy. The LGUs also avail of pushcarts and tribikes instead of dump trucks and save on fuel and carbon cost tremendously.
Surely, we can learn from them. It is time for citizens to take the lead in ensuring that RA 9003 is implemented seriously. We simply cannot wait for another 13 years to pass by before the crucial solid waste management plan is adopted.
As Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai reflected, “It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference.”
What is that little thing that you can do for Mother Earth today and each day?
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