IT WAS REPORTED recently that a cluster of towns in Iloilo province will be using Pass City’s P408-million integrated waste management facility because they do not have the financial resources to build one for their own use.
Yes, this is the hard truth. The implementation of sanitary landfills in the country has not been successful due to limited funds.
To help local government units (LGUs) with no waste disposal facilities, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) promotes the “clustered sanitary landfill operation system” wherein adjacent LGUs share a single sanitary landfill.
But it doesn’t have to be this way all the time. Multiple users of just one sanitary landfill would hasten its being filled up with waste. The national government must play an active role in designing and financing mandated sanitary landfills.
Perhaps the private sector must be encouraged, too, to participate by providing services on waste management, particularly the establishment and operation of a sanitary landfill.
Another concern is the lack of retention of technical officers in LGUs as the Local Government Code of 1991 does not mandate the creation of city and municipal environment and natural resources offices. The National Solid Waste Management Commission has already recommended to LGUs the inclusion of the city or municipal environment and natural resources officers in the financial component of their 10-year solid waste management plans.
There is more hope – the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court. It clarifies that the share from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of LGUs does not exclude other national taxes like customs duties. The exclusion of other national taxes like customs duties from the base for determining the just share of the LGUs contravened the express constitutional edict in Section 6, Article X of the 1987 Constitution. The Mandanas doctrine could resolve the lack of investments and financial resources at the LGU level. It would reshape the landscape of LGUs.
Although LGUs are expected to assume additional responsibilities, the Mandanas ruling implementation could provide them with additional resources for solid waste management.
