Escudero wants strict implementation of zero-waste management

Senator Chiz Escudero urged the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and local officials in the metropolis to focus on the implementation of zero waste management amid the garbage row between the MMDA and the mayor of Rodriguez, Rizal.

"The alleged impending garbage crisis in Metro Manila due to a disagreement over garbage disposal can be prevented if we only practice waste segregation, recycling and composting as what the law requires," Escudero stressed.

He said the government as well as local government units will no longer rely heavily on dump sites if the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 is strictly enforced.

Environmental studies say that 70 to 80 percent of garbage would not end up in dumps if the law, the first one enacted by President Arroyo after she assumed the presidency in 2001, is strictly enforced.

"If this is the case, then why are we still going gaga over dumps?" Escudero asked. "Having disposal sites is not the main key to solve garbage problem but the full enforcement of the law and the strict implementation of the penalties and consequences when such law is violated."

Escudero said laws were created precisely to affect a common good. These should therefore be put into action even when no one is looking and even without the threat of getting penalized if people want to see that things are working in this country the way they should be as in the case of garbage disposal.

RA 9003 only allows the operation of sanitary landfills but they must only accommodate residual wastes like diapers, napkins, excavated materials from the community's open drainage and other wastes that do not fall under biodegradable and recyclable wastes.

The 14-hectare sanitary landfill in Barangay San Isidro in Rodriguez, Rizal which receives 40 percent of Metro Manila garbage and ordered closed by the Rizal provincial government on safety concerns early this month did not only accept residual wastes but mixed wastes.

The Rizal government operates its own 19-hectare dump also in Barangay San Isidro following the closure, but Rodriguez local officials have opposed its operation. Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo even warned the MMDA and Metro Manila mayors the town will no longer accommodate garbage from the metropolis should they continue honoring other garbage deal.