ADVOCATES of solid waste management on
Tuesday called for a congressional inquiry into government
officials’ compliance with the provisions of the Ecological
Solid Waste Management Act.
The Ecological Waste Coalition claimed that
both the national government and local government units have
failed in discharging their mandates under the law.
Manny Calonzo, Ecowaste coordinator, said
they will formally write Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate
committee on the environment, to request an inquiry.
Romy Hidalgo, another Ecowaste coordinator of
EcoWaste Coalition, said that while Republic Act 9003 mandates
that dumpsites should be closed five years after the law’s
enactment in 2001, government records show that more than 1,000
dumpsites still exist in the country.
During a press conference, Hidalgo cited data
from the National Solid Waste Management Commission showing that
there are still 677 existing open dumpsites and 343 controlled
dumpsites in the country.
The more prominent ones are those in Antipolo
and Montalban in Rizal; Baguio City; Calapan in Oriental Mindoro;
Carmen in Cagayan de Oro; Mandurriao in Iloilo City; Obando in
Bulacan; San Pedro in Laguna and Pier 18 in Manila.
Hidalgo pointed that RA 9003 requires the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources to make sure
that all dumpsites are shut down by 2006 but DENR data show that
so far, only 217 authority-to-close orders have been issued by
the agency and these "have no clear timeline."
"After issuing those orders, the parties
should be given 30 days to close but until now, no dumpsite has
been closed," he said.
Hidalgo also noted the non-establishment by
local government units of materials recovery facilities (MRF)
that are supposed to collect and segregate waste materials at
the barangay level. He said that of some 42,000 barangays in the
Philippines, only 2,133 are being serviced by 1,923 of these
MRFs.
He also criticized the solid waste commission
for failing to come up with a list of non-environmentally
acceptable products as required by the law.
Hidalgo also noted the irony in needing only
around P100,000 to build an MRF as against the P400 million
required to build a dumpsite. He blamed the situation on the
lack of political will of LGUs and even the national government.
He said government officials who fail to comply and enforce
the law can be charged administratively. But while his group has
already filed cases before the Ombudsman against the mayors of
Manila, Obando, Montalban, Quezon City and Navotas, among
others, the Ombudsman has not imposed any administrative
sanctions on these government officials. – Reinir C. Padua
