2 Bataan villages top in eco compliance audit

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- The barangays of San Antonio in Bagac town and Lote Puerto Rivas in Balanga City emerged as topnotchers in the recent Barangay Environmental Compliance Audit (BECA) in Bataan province.

BECA is an incentivized program of the Department of the Interior and Local Government under the Manila Bay Clean-up, Preservation and Rehabilitation Program.

The program grants economic incentives and assesses the compliance of barangays to the pertinent provisions of Republic Act 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

The two villages will receive P30,000 each for their proposed environmental projects and will represent Bataan in the regional assessment under the municipal and city categories.

Indicators in identifying the top performing barangays for BECA include existence of Barangay Solid Waste Management Committee (BSWMC), functionality of BSWMC, existence of the Barangay Solid Waste Management Action Plan/Program, and barangay ordinance on “No Segregation, No Collection.”

Also included is the percentage of households that practice segregation, ordinance on the “No Littering, Illegal Dumping and Open Burning”, and existence of functional Barangay Material Recovery Facility.

The two barangays and other runner-ups were selected by the Provincial Assessment Committee composed of representatives from Department of the Interior and Local Government , Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, Provincial Government-Bataan Environment and Natural Resources Office, Bataan Peninsula State University- Research and Innovation Center on Climate Change, and Philippine Information Agency.