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By Ronnie E. Calumpita, Reporter
(First of two parts)
Republic Act 9003, or the Economic Solid Waste
Management Act of 2000, requires each barangay or cluster of
barangays to set up a material-recovery facility (MRF). That is
where garbage management is actually carried out through waste
segregation, recycling, composting of biodegradable waste and
storing of recyclable materials.
The sad fact is that many barangays have not
complied with the three-and-a-half-year-old law. Only 303 MRFs have
been set up, which is so minuscule compared with the 41,945
barangays across the country. Indeed it’s an indication that
implementation of the law has been a failure.
Among the reasons cited are lack of budget and
lack of technical knowledge to set up an MRF.
Outgoing Environment and Natural Resources
Secretary Elisea Gozun admitted that the efforts of the government
in the implementation of the law is not enough to address garbage
problem, particularly in urban areas such as Metro Manila.
“We are still short in the
implementation and we will continue pursuing it [in the local
government units and barangays] to put in place segregation at
source,” she said in an interview.
Gozun said, however, that R.A. 9003 does not
actually require every barangay to establish their respective MRFs,
saying a facility for waste segregation and composting can also be
set up in a cluster of barangays.
“There are municipalities, let’s say it has
two districts, so it only has two MRFs, but it does not really mean
all the barangays are not being served [by the MRFs]. I think we
cannot compare the two numbers [303 MRF out of 41,945 barangays] by
themselves, although I think we will also be the first to accept the
fact that we are really short in the implementation,” Gozun said.
Lack of budget
Under Section 10 of R.A. 9003, barangays play a
vital role in carrying out the provisions of the law, because
segregation and collection of waste are supposed to be conducted in
their jurisdictions.
But how can the barangays perform their
functions if they lack budget for proper waste management?
Sonia Mendoza, president of Mother Earth
Unlimited, said a barangay with at least 10,000 people should have
at least an annual budget of P1.5 million for waste management to be
able to comply with the law.
She said, however, that a meager barangay budget
or no budget at all for waste management should not be blamed for
the failure of the barangay officials to implement R.A. 9003.
“Unless the barangay chair is diligent [he
would be successful in managing his barangay’s wastes],” said
Mendoza, who is also a commissioner of the National Solid Waste
Management Commission (NSWMC), the government agency created under
R.A. 9003 to oversee the implementation of the law.
Gozun also brushed aside the idea that lack of
budget hampers the segregation, composting and recycling of wastes
in every barangay or cluster of barangays.
She said a small area with a room for composting
will do to set up an MRF. “Nipa, sawali . . . the important thing
is there’s a roof, there’s a place where nonbiodegradable
materials that are recyclable or reusable can be stored.”
Gozun also appealed to households with vacant
lots to bury biodegradable materials in their backyards to minimize
collection of tons of garbage.
Barangays with meager budget for proper waste
management should take Barangay Bagumbuhay in Project 4, Quezon
City, as an example for them to comply with the law.
True to its name, Barangay Bagumbuhay took on a
new life when it started addressing its garbage problem.
The barangay began implementing R.A. 9003 in
August 2001 with a budget of only P45,000.
“We really started with nothing, with no help
from the local government, unlike other barangays,” Barangay
Chair Raulito Datiles recalled. “We were only able to find an
abandoned private place. It’s about 300 square meters, which was
then full of garbage and we used it for our MRF.”
Because it also lacked personnel, the barangay
deployed its barangay tanod (village auxiliary security) to collect
segregated waste from households.
The Quezon City Hall estimated that 52 percent
of wastes of Barangay Bagumbuhay in 2002 did not end up in dumps
after the successful implementation of the law.
In 2003, the barangay, which is also being
assisted by Mother Earth Unlimited and the NSWMC in the waste
management and disposal activities, diverts 65 percent of its
garbage from dumps.
Successful solid waste management in the
barangay with a population of about 7,400 resulted in a decrease in
the number of trips a truck makes collecting trash from 10 to 4.5 a
week in 2002. Two years later, garbage collection even fell further,
to 1.5 trips a week when the barangay acquired additional composting
drums for composting.
Bagumbuhay, which generates about 407 kilograms
of waste daily, is one of the model barangays the DENR recognizes
for its proper waste management program.
No technical knowledge
Besides scarcity of budget, the lack of
technical knowledge and guidelines also affect the successful
implementation of R.A. 9003 in the barangay level.
The DENR, through the NSWMC, has been working
closely with the league of barangays, municipalities and cities so
that local officials will understand and adopt the technical aspects
of waste segregation, composting and recycling.
Albert Magalang, NSWMC executive director, said
the commission also sends letters to mayors to put into practice
waste management.
Magalang wants local officials to know that the
agency provides technical assistance to every barangay.” Since we
have a lot of barangays, we assist first those who ask for help.”
Model MRFs have already been put up in every
region to serve as models for all barangays to set up their own
ecology centers. Each model MRF has a project cost of P450,000.
“They [mayors and barangay officials] could go
there [model MRFs] and we will assist them [for technical know-how]
in the implementation of the law,” Magalang said.
But only few local officials, particularly the
mayors, visited the model MRFs. At the National Ecology Center on
East Avenue, Quezon City, the site of the model MRF in Metro Manila,
most of the visitors are from the communities and private
individuals. They even come from areas outside the metropolis.
“Mayors? There are none there but there are
barangay officials,” said Odette Alcantara, a convenor of the
Mother Earth Philippines. She is one of the environmental activists
who administer the National Ecology Center.
Alcantara noted that Mayor Feliciano Belmonte
Jr. of Quezon City is the only mayor in Metro Manila who always
visited the model MRF.
(Concluded tomorrow)
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