PRESIDENT Duterte’s stance on banning plastics is gaining support in Congress. There are at least 25 proposed bills and resolutions on plastics now pending in the House and about seven in the Senate. There are standouts.
Agusan del Norte Cong. Lawrence Fortun’s House Bill (HB) 103 seeks to regulate the production, importation, sale, provision, use, recovery, collection, recycling, and disposal of plastic products. The measure seeks to ban all single-use plastics. It includes under Section 16 a mechanism for vigilant citizens to file a “citizen’s suit” against persons, companies or entities that violate the country’s laws on plastics regulation.
Iligan Cong. Frederick Siao’s Pera sa Basura Act (HB 5048) is one of the most comprehensive bills that can achieve what President Duterte wants as regards eliminating plastic waste. It lets private corporations and government-owned or controlled corporations establish special purpose corporations or joint ventures with the specific mission of redeeming and recovering plastic wastes.
On the other hand, to keep the plastic waste crisis from worsening, Bohol Cong. Alexie Besas Tutor’s HB 4724 bans single-use plastics from all tourist sites and destinations. With this bill, we want all tourists to be aware that they are most welcome but their single-use plastics like water bottles, spoons, forks, straws, and stirrers are not. HB 4724 is focused on tourism areas. The signages about the plastics ban should be present at the transport hubs, including airports and bus terminals. Plastics manufacturers will have to adjust to the new business rules. Tourism businesses must find alternatives to single-use plastics.
For deterrence purposes, HB 4724 has stiff fines and other penalties to force and remind people not to bring single-use plastics to the beaches, hiking trails, mountains, and other places tourists go to. One natural consequence of this bill is widespread change in people’s behavior.
In the Senate, there’s Sen. Francis Pangilinan’s Senate Bill 40 seeking to phase out single-use plastic products by prohibiting their importation, manufacture, and use in food establishments, stores, markets, and retailers. The Single-Use Plastics Regulation and Management Bill proposes to ban the use of all single-use plastics starting one year after the effectivity of the measure and to penalize those who will not enforce it. Those who will re-use and recycle will receive an incentive.
We appeal to the President to certify the bills as urgent. The world needs the ban on single-use plastic. And as the Philippines is one of the biggest producers of plastic waste, the world will benefit from such a ban.
