CITIES and towns in Davao Region, including Davao City, have not fully implemented the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act although there are pockets of barangays that are successfully doing so, interestingly led by women barangay chairs.

Funded by the University of the Philippines Mindanao (UP Min) and the Philippine Council for Population and Development, Prof. Antonio Obsioma presented his four-month research on Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, Panabo City, Island Garden City of Samal, and Davao City (Sanpasada) in a lecture-forum arranged by the UP Alumni Association Davao.

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Obsioma said Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management (SWM) Act of 2000, mandates all local government units to implement a sustainable SWM program that will reuse, recycle and reduce solid wastes and states the empowerment of the barangays as focal areas. This, however, has not been followed.

Obsioma showed different examples of MRFs in barangays that failed to function as indicated by RA 9003.

“Instead of being an area that would cultivate long-term SWM measures nagiging tambakan lang ito, kulang o walang equipment, o kayay yung intension is purely para kumita ang nag-mamanage nito,” Obsioma said.

“Lessons learned nito is that municipalities have limited understanding of the features, scope and functions of the MRF. The implementation of RA 9003 is not uniform in Sanpasada,” Obsioma said.

He also said that solid wastes should be considered as a resource, which if properly managed and utilized will result in “cleaner environment healthier Filipinos, creates employment opportunities, creates investment opportunities for everybody.”

Obsioma’s recommendations include the implementation of SWM in several areas within the region where the SWM have been well implemented.

Obsioma cited Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte for their successful implementation of RA 9003.

“They are perhaps a third class municipality but their SWM program is very detailed and very successful. They specifically look into components of how to manage waste in their area and these are the educational integration of SWM, the policy and enforcement which is usually the weakest side, the equity component which is the food and energy of the program, under nito ang budget allocation and revenue generation,” Obsioma said.

“In Sto. Tomas you won’t find garbage bins in the streets because it will only encourage improper waste disposal. What they do is from the homes, offices, or establishments pa lang nase-segregate na ang waste. They also create salable materials out of their solid waste such as ground plastics,” Obsioma said.

He then recommended that the SWM Program of Santo Tomas should be considered as a model of the municipalities of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur and small cities like the Island Garden City of Samal.

“However, for cities like Davao or Panabo, the Santo Tomas model may need some modifications kasi napakalaki ng waste ng mga cities na ito compared to Sto. Tomas,” Obsioma said.

Stakeholders must be organized and an alternative model should be developed for the city for a holistic and sustainable SWM, he said.

“I know even if we do this now, we wouldn’t be the ones to benefit from it. It will be for our children and our grandchildren. Hindi na maiiwasan ang basura sa buhay natin eh and most of this waste can be reused so we really should look at waste as resources and not as something unwanted,” Obsioma said.

He added that people will also have good nutrition because of organic grown vegetables. “We’ll have good coastal areas. And there will be a generation of income from factory and farming opportunities and from growing agricultural products.” (JCZ)