Poor enforcement of environmental laws and substandard solid waste management efforts by Local Government Units are once again on the chopping board and were blamed for the recent flooding triggered by Severe Tropical Storm Enteng, Typhoon Carina and monsoon rains of the past.
The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) admitted that solid wastes, particularly domestic refuse from households, clogged drainage canals, waterways and even pumping stations, exacerbated the flooding in many areas within the metro.
“Halos lahat ng flooded area or even sa mga pumping stations ay napuno ng basura. Sa MMDA lang, truckloads yung mga hanahakot natin. Napakarami talaga at ito ay mga household wastes,” Atty. Romando Artes, MMDA Chairperson said.
As a result, flooding caused casualties, injuries, and damages to properties and infrastructures and displaced hundreds of Filipinos in Luzon.
Last month, Typhoon Carina wreaked havoc, with heavy rains worsening floods in low-lying areas. Based on the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s station in Quezon City Typhoon Carina-enhanced habagat dumped 471 millimeters of rainfall within 24 hours, surpassing the 455 millimeters recorded within 24 hours during TS Ondoy in 2009.
The situation faced by flooded residents was a dose of their own medicine and a grim consequence of their irresponsible actions.
Everything Must Go Somewhere
As one of the seven environmental principles, this tells us that by-products of consumption including plastic packaging, sachets, PET bottles, plastic straws, single-use plastic, aluminum cans or glass bottles, go back to the environment. Everything that we throw away – biodegradable or not– has to go somewhere.
If left uncollected, most, if not all of these wastes go to our waterways. It ends up in our coastal areas and endangers marine resources, one of the primary sources of food among Filipinos.
LGUs across the country are tasked to enforce laws and ordinances, including Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
Unfortunately, RA 9003 was not fully enforced by concerned government agencies. As an example, not all LGUs have sanitary landfills, let alone barangays having a decent Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). These come as contrary to existing laws and issuances that mandate them to have such facilities.
In their Performance Audit Report (PAO) 2023-01 on the Solid Waste Management Program issued last year, the Commission on Audit (COA) stated that only 29.25 percent or 478 out of 1,634 LGUs in the country have access to sanitary landfills despite a steady increase of generated solid waste.
COA added that it has been more than two decades since RA 9003 was enacted, but the government has yet to implement an effective waste management program.
Atty. Zoilo Andin, Senior Policy and Institutional Advisor of the Clean Cities Blue Ocean (CCBO) flagship project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said that it is the responsibility of the City and Municipal Mayors to remind punong barangays to enforce RA 9003 and other solid waste related ordinances.
As such, component barangay leaders of cities or municipalities will be reminded of their responsibility, especially in the collection of biodegradable and recyclable wastes, while chief executives are mandated to enforce measures to collect residual wastes going to sanitary landfills or other environment-friendly waste disposal facility.
RA 9003 likewise directs barangay government units to pass their respective solid waste management ordinances and ecological solid waste management plans.
These mechanisms are just a part of an intricate weave that leads to sound waste management. If we continue to dispose of our wastes like cavemen, then we should prepare for the worst.
