Garbage collection and politics shouldn’t mix. But they do, unfortunately. Right now, our politicians are squabbling over how to handle garbage in our towns and cities, aware of the fact that voters will be judging their performance by how they handle our problems, a big part of which is about garbage.
Cebu City alone generates 5,000 to 10,000 tons of garbage every single day. Local facilities can only cater to a fraction of this massive volume daily, forcing the City to haul off huge amounts of garbage to external sites.
Meanwhile, our cities are inundated by floods caused by garbage that block drainage flow. Trash stench at the South Road Properties has raised cries from surrounding residents and businesses. A garbage landfill in Barangay Binaliw has caused a fatal landslide.
Cebuanos are crying out loud over garbage. In response, officials have passed measures such as public education on garbage, color-coded trash bags, collection methods and schedules, segregation rules and regulations, even imposing harsh penalties for violations.
But at the end of the day, garbage still litter our streets. Undisciplined citizens continue to treat our roads like giant trash bins, disregarding segregation rules or collection methods and schedules.
On the other hand, officials are wary of having violators apprehended for fear of voter backlash. In Liloan, proponents of a new trash collection system are being bashed on social media. In some places, government offices can only post cute warning signs about garbage without actually making apprehensions or imposing penalties, lest officials earn the wrath of voters come election day.
A proposal worth considering is the fielding of a garbage police by a Metro Cebu-wide management body, a similar bill of which is now pending in Congress.
Addressing the issue on a wider scale finds logic in that trash is often naturally trafficked between the cities and towns of Metro Cebu. Many of the plastic bottles floating in Mactan’s beaches, for instance, come from mainland Cebu’s rivers.
Again, the proposal to create an office similar to the Metro Manila Development Authority that takes charge of functions like solid waste management bears repeating. While overseeing things, the metro body will continue to perform coordinative functions with local government units, making sure that the latter are not overstepped.
Making garbage management metro-wide would give it a degree of separation from local politics. Should garbage laws be strictly enforced, local officials can pass the buck to the management body instead of absorbing voters’ anger for being subjected to penalties.
A garbage police can then be organized and mobilized to enforce anti-littering and waste disposal ordinances, holding violators accountable.
But this garbage police team can only be effective if its members are non-residents of the places where they’re assigned to. Those from Talisay City, for instance, should be dispatched to Mandaue City while those from Cebu City can be assigned to Lapu-Lapu City, and so on. The interchange will ensure that familiarity and relations will not influence their decisions.
Most importantly, local politics will not stand in the way of the enforcement activities of the garbage police. Once voters recognize this, they will surely toe the line knowing that their local officials cannot get them off the hook.
When I was connected with a government agency with regulatory functions before, I encouraged local officials to pass the blame to my office whenever their residents complained of being apprehended by my enforcement staff for violations down my alley. The officials were thus able to shield themselves from voters’ anger, making enforcement more effective.
