ILOILO – Municipal officials of Balasan, Barotac Nuevo, Barotac Viejo, Dumangas, and San Miguel may be charged with violating Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 for operating open dumpsites.
RA 9003 prohibits the operation of open dumpsites which it describes as “disposal areas wherein solid wastes are indiscriminately thrown or disposed of without due planning and consideration for environmental and health standards.”
The five municipalities would be “endorsed” by the legal division of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region 6 to its central office for proper action, according to Mitzi Peñaflorida, senior environmental management specialist of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office.
Peñaflorida, however, said these municipalities could still avoid legal trouble.
“Hopefully samtang ara pa lang sa legal office ma-solve na ini nga issue,” she said.
One step these local governments could do is submit their 10-year solid waste management plans to the National Solid Waste Management Commission.
Solid waste management refers to the discipline associated with the control of generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing, and disposal of solid wastes in a manner that is in accord with the best principles of public health, economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics, and other environmental considerations, and that is also responsive to public attitudes.
Among others, RA 9003 mandates the establishment of materials recovery facilities, also known as ecology centers, in every barangay or cluster of barangays to promote waste prevention and reduction in the grassroots level.
A materials recovery facility includes a solid waste transfer station or sorting station, drop-off center, a composting facility, and a recycling facility.
“Many bureaucrats and politicians remain fixated with garbage disposal through landfills and even waste incinerators instead of implementing robust ecological solid waste management programs anchored on waste prevention, reduction, separation at source, reuse, recycling and composting,” according to Peñaflorida.
Every year, EMB Region 6 conducts on-the-spot inspection of municipalities vis-à-vis their compliance to RA 9003.
This is not the first time Iloilo municipalities were called out for operating open dumpsites. On Feb. 15, 2016 Commissioner Romeo Hidalgo, nongovernment organization representative to the National Solid Waste Management Commission, filed verified complaints at the Office the Ombudsman against former and incumbent officials of the municipalities of Ajuy and Banate for operating open dumpsites./PN
