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Collective responsibility
IN ILOILO City, people usually blame the city government for the inundation of some streets when it rains. The drainage system is clogged and poorly maintained.
People, however, conveniently forget that they, too, are partly to blame. The frequent flooding has also something to do with reckless waste disposal. The remorseless dumping of garbage in the streets and waterways aggravate the floods. Rainwater will not drain fast enough if the drainage system is clogged with trash.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to grasp the need to keep waterways free of rubbish and debris to allow the water to freely flow and minimize flooding, but many have yet to realize what we recklessly throw on the ground will come back to haunt and harm us. Plastic bags, packaging items, diapers, clothes, tsinelas, etc. – these can be found not only in stores but also in our clogged drainage.
To help in averting floods, the public must break the filthy habit of throwing garbage in the streets and waterways, and to embrace what environmentalists call the “5Rs” – reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, and respect. Households, for example, should segregate their discards at source to facilitate the reusing, recycling and composting of waste materials in line with Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Local authorities, particularly the city and municipal mayors and the barangay captains, should actively implement Republic Act 9003 within their areas of jurisdiction and to use the full force of the law to ensure compliance. The honest-to-goodness enforcement of RA 9003 will reduce the volume and toxicity of garbage, cut hauling costs, control environmental pollution, conserve resources, prevent spillage of plastic litter to the oceans, and even create sustainable jobs and livelihoods.
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