TODAY is World Environment Day. It encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
We remember, 22 years ago, the enactment of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. Also known as Republic Act (RA) 9003, the country’s principal waste law was signed on Jan. 26, 2001 – six months after the Payatas dumpsite tragedy – by then President and now Pampanga representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It stipulates the “adoption of best environmental practices in ecological solid waste management, excluding incineration.”
This World Environment Day, we ask: Do local government units heed this law?
The National Solid Waste Management Commission has one observation: local chief executives do not have the political will to enforce the law.
According to the Ecowaste Coaliton, the following are some of the most obvious violations of RA 9003:
* wanton disregard of specific acts prohibited such as littering, open burning, open dumping, construction of dumps in environmentally critical areas, and the manufacture, distribution, use or importation of non-environmentally acceptable products and services
* illegal operation of open dumpsites and controlled dumpsites across the country, which should have been closed in February 2004 and February 2006, respectively
* construction and operation of so-called “sanitary landfills” in watershed areas, in flood-prone places and near water bodies, which receive mixed waste instead of just residuals
* slow establishment of materials recovery facilities or MRFs in every barangay or cluster of barangays to assist with the segregation, composting and recycling of discards, and minimize the volume of residual waste requiring final storage or disposal
So how do we prod local government officials to implement the law faithfully?
Hold recalcitrant LGUs accountable for their failure to enforce the law. This is the job of the Environmental Ombudsman actually.
If they are clueless on how to go about with the technicalities of solid waste management – that’s one of their oft-repeated excuses – they can learn from local government units that have successfully done so. Simply put, they can replicate and mainstream successful zero waste programs and initiatives of other LGUs. Mother Earth has enough of these excuses.
