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[av_heading heading=’WV LGUs VIOLATE WASTE LAW | Many still operate open dumpsites’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RESEL JOY TIANERO
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017
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ILOILO City – Only 30 percent of local government units (LGUs) in Western Visayas have complied with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act that prohibits open dumpsites, according to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region 6.
“With the Office of the Ombudsman as our partner, we will be implementing this law seriously,” EMB regional director Ariel Gloria warned the LGUs.
Western Visayas has 98 local government units – five cities and 95 municipalities in five provinces.
Early this year, the Solid Waste Management Council of EMB-6 endorsed to the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) for further validation 15 LGUs maintaining open dumpsites in violation of the Act’s Article 1, Section 17.
Open dumps are disposal areas wherein solid wastes are indiscriminately thrown or disposed of without due planning and consideration for environmental and health standards.
Among these LGUs were the municipalities of Kalibo in the province of Aklan; Roxas City, Panit-an, Mambusao and Pontevedra in Capiz province, and Calinog and Passi City in Iloilo.
In a press conference yesterday, Gloria urged LGUs to “double time.” The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (Republic Act 9003) was enacted in 2000 yet or 17 years ago, he lamented.
According to NSWMC executive director Eligio Ildefonso who was with Gloria, a team had been created to conduct validations.
The team was composed of representatives from the NSWMC, Office of the Ombudsman, civil society, EMB, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“They will be going to various LGUs,” said Ildefonso.
From what he had gathered from local chief executives, Ildefonso said, some LGUs lacked money to meet solid waste management standards that the law set.
But he said these LGUs have Internal Revenue Allotments every year and development funds the 20 percent of which could be used for solid waste management.
For the NSWMC chief, compliance to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act was a matter of “political will.”
Gloria, on the other hand, observed that leadership changes were a factor, too, in the LGUs’ non-compliance.
“What were done by previous administrations were being not re-echoed to the new administrations,” he lamented.
The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act should be implemented whoever leads a local government unit, Gloria stressed.
Last year, the Environmental Ombudsman investigated six LGUs in Western Visayas – the towns of Ajuy, Santa Barbara, Sara, Banate, and Concepcion, all in Iloilo province, and Nabas in Aklan for operating open dumpsites.
As of the first quarter (2017) monitoring, Gloria said these LGUs already closed their open dumpsites and have started practicing solid waste management and resource conservation recovery.
These LGUs will be continuously monitored for compliance, said Gloria, based on their respective 10-year solid waste management plans that NSWMC approved.
Gloria and Ildefonso led the opening of the 2017 Regional Solid Waste Management Summit and Expo yesterday at Amigo Terrace Hotel.
“This Regional Solid Waste Management Summit and Expo could help LGUs practice proper solid waste management,” said Ildefonso. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
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