Vista Alegre is the pilot barangay chosen by the Bacolod Anti-BAHA Alliance for its Solid Waste Management education drive.
Jean Trebol, Agnes Jalandoni, Alan Gensoli and several members of the BAHA Alliance went out of their way to help in the SWM education campaign so that others will also contribute in the prevention of flooding in Bacolod City.
Vista Alegre Punong Barangay Jose Antonio Gensoli, purok leaders and the youth welcomed BAHA in its effort to help improve the solid waste management of Bacolod City.
Jalandoni said the Solid Waste Management group in the Mitigating Committee was requested to help in the education campaign and Alan Gensoli chose Vista Alegre as the pilot barangay for the education campaign.
If this will succeed in Vista Alegre, this can be replicated in other barangays, she said.
Jalandoni said that it's time to share to others about proper waste disposal and how it can be converted into money out of garbage segregation.
"We need to teach people how important are their contribution to this effort. We have to know how much garbage we dispose everyday. We all know that a lot of people contribute why our canals and surroundings get dirty simply because they are not doing their share. We have to educate ourselves on proper waste disposal. We should not throw our garbage carelessly. We should refrain from using plastics; we need to recycle bottles and cans so that only residual waste is left to be collected," she said.
She added that if she can do it, she urged others to also do their share so that the effort could mushroom, which will eventually lead to the benefit of the general public as well as our city.
She said that the education campaign will literally start from the uphill. And then hopefully it can be replicated. We just need to help one another in changing our attitude towards garbage. It's difficult but it is possible when we are all determined to do our share in making our city truly clean, green and floodless," she said.
She added that in foreign countries, people are disciplined in the proper disposal of garbage. Other Filipinos who worked overseas also adopted such practice. Their streets are clean because people follow the rules.
Punong Barangay Gensoli said that solid waste management is his priority program.
He said that Vista Alegre has many rivers. The river in Villa Angela started to get dirty because garbage and plastics are being thrown there.
The garbage collection was done once every month or two and now it was done once every two weeks. It started to get dirty as some residents just asked a poor kid with his trisikad to throw a sack of garbage and they were not aware that this is being thrown in the rivers. They just pay the kid and their garbage is thrown directly to the rivers.
He told his Purok Presidents to prohibit dwellers within the 50 meter distance from the river.He also thanked the Anti-BAHA Alliance for their concern and willingness to help educate the people about proper waste disposal. The first time that I met the BAHA members, they asked me about the first step that they will do to help in the SWM and I told them, help educate the people about solid waste management," he said.
He planned to make Vista Alegre as the model barangay for all the 61 barangay in terms of cleanliness. There is a Clean and Green competition for the barangays and the evaluation started this month until next month.
He said that he does not need the competition because he always sees to it that their barangay is regularly clean. "They can come here anytime and they will see how clean our roads are."
Since he became the Punong Barangay, solid waste management is his priority which particularly includes Abada-Escay, the resettlement area of the City Government of Bacolod.
He said that "We will continue to educate the people in Abada Escay because the dwellers there came from the 36 different barangays in the city and these people don't care about proper waste disposal. If you are looking for mountainous garbage, go to Abada Escay," he said.
He also instructed the barangay tanods to make rounds at night at Abada Escay because there are private individuals from outside the barangay who threw their garbage at night.
Moreover, Alan Gensoli said that the city government has allocated P3 million for its SWM, which was divided in all the 61 barangays.
The city has used the year 2000 Census as its basis with a formula of area x population.
But in 2000, Abada Escay was not yet been developed.
Now, Abada Escay has a population of 7,500 individuals.
Other barangays still receive the same SWM budget as if these 7,500 people are still there in their barangays and there was no increase of the SWM budget for Vista Alegre.
According to Councilor Greg Gasataya, the new SWM budget will take effect in 2010, Gensoli said.
He added that the situation in the Abada Escay is very difficult due to the absence of proper utilities like power, water and drainage. People were just transferred there even if it lacks preparation of the site.
Even the Gawad Kalinga in the Abada Escay also lacks these basic utilities.
Alan Gensoli said, "We need to educate the people about SWM because of health and ecology. Ecology is a Greek word which means home. If we clean our own home, why can't we clean our ecology, the earth, which is also our own home?"
He added that based on the RA 9003, City Ordinance 310, and solid waste management is the responsibility of the barangays. "We need to segregate at source. The Material recovery facility must be established in the barangay level so that the city will just collect the residual waste which will be placed in a sanitary land fill. However the city has not yet started in its SWM education campaign.
The implementing agencies are DENR and National Solid waste management commission. Under NSWC Resolution 9, they categorize the Local Government unit on how many volumes of garbage are being disposed in a locality. Bacolod City is under category 4 because it has more than 200 tons of garbage being generated a day and it needs to have a sanitary land fill with a treatment pond.
According to the law, by February 16, 2004, the open dumpsite should be converted into a controlled dumpsite. But by Feb. 16, 2006, all controlled dumpsites should be closed. February 17, 2006 the use of sanitary land fill should start, "We are more than 2 years and a half delayed, that alone is against the law. The government is liable for that under the law.
Government swore to protect and preserve the integrity of the law. But here we are, just ignoring the law."
He said that the 7-hectare property which the city bought from Lopez is just beside the existing dump site and in two months from now, it will be fully filled up. "Do you think we could make a sanitary land fill immediately? It takes a year to do it. We need to teach our people to segregate so that the volumes of garbage could be reduced tremendously. There is so much money which can be made out of the trash. I have seen no reason why we will not segregate.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Trebol said they also conducted a waste characterization in Vista Alegre to determine what kind of waste they generate, and from there they can determine what kind of material recovery facility they will need.
After this, they will conduct a two day seminar, which is going to be more intensive for the SWM group in Vista Alegre.
She said that Alan Gensoli, head of the Alliance SWM Committee chose Vista Alegre because the success factor is high. The Punong Barangay and the Council are very eager to implement SWM.
She said that it's not easy to change people's attitude towards garbage. But if the city shows that they mean business, it will be easy. It has to start from them. "We are just here to help and show them the examples and hopefully it will be successful. And if it is, it can be something that everyone can follow. We want to show to all that's its doable if we all do our share and contribution to make the city clean, green and floodless."
