FINALLY, some local news that I can be happy about. And the funny thing is that the item came from a government press release.
The Bacolod City Environment and Natural Resource Office observed a decrease in the garbage volume because of its “no-segregation no-collection policy,” a Philippine Information Agency press release said.
I would have dismissed outright the news item as electoral propaganda. But the article quoted the source.
The press release quoted Chief engineer Max Sillo, who said a number of households and commercial establishments have gladly adopted the process, and that has reduced daily collection on the bulk of garbage.
I have a high respect for Max. I’ve been working with him since 2001 when we were together for the multi-stakeholder committee on solid waste management. That was then during the time of Mayor Oscar Verdeflor.
Formerly with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, Max knows his environmental laws. I’ve seen up close how hard to implement RA 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
We came up with schemes, roping in business and civil society into the act of implementing the law. We lobbied with city hall, but partisan politics stymied the efforts.
I saw how under Mayor Joy Valdez, and later with the present Leonardia administration, the city would spent a budget for hiring Bacolod aides to clean up the city, instead of implementing the law requiring segregation of solid waste at source.
In other words, business as usual. Collect, transport, and dispose to open landfills.
The Ecowaste Coalition, a public network of over 85 NGOs, community, academic, private and faith-based organizations working toward zero waste communities in the Philippines, lobbied the DENR to lean on LGUs to clean up their acts on ESWM, as mandated by RA 9003.
Or else, face prosecution for dereliction of duty. The Bacolod City Hall was targeted to be one of the samplers. Punish a few, and scare the rest.
It worked. The fear of adverse propaganda of being hauled to court created wonders. I’ve seen several barangays instituting provisions of the law such as material recovery facilities, and segregation at source, that is, barangay and household levels.
Then there’s segregation has also helped turn garbage into money as bottles, plastics, aluminum and other items that are still useful are now being sold to junkshops, as Max said.
Artist friend Larry Guillema asked my niece Josa Kriska Berona how to avail of used tarpaulin posters in SM Bacolod. No deal. SM has its own ecological solid waste management program for recycling its trash.
Indeed, as the slogan goes, there cash in trash. May pera sa basura. Admittedly, the barangays’ initial efforts seem laughable. In Alijis near Celita, the MRF (or what passes for it) overflowed with organic wastes mixed with the non-biodegradables. Some barangay captains simply don’t get it.
Max admitted that the city has not yet achieved 100 percent compliance. I agree that city hall needs to strengthen the information, education advocacy of the office to increase community participation in the implementation of the law.
I echo Max’s call that Bacoleños especially the households, private companies and government offices to practice segregation because this is not just the duty of the city and barangay officials but of every citizen.
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