SOMETHING SMELLS
Negros Daily Bulletin
By Alan S. Gensoli
When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ascended to the presidency in 2001, the first bill she signed into law was R.A. 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. But R.A. 9003 is now fast becoming (if it hasn’t yet become) the most disrespected if not ignored law of the land. Now, it seems, the foolishness of the DENR and the LGUs in skirting the instructions of R.A. 9003 has won the ire of the President. It’s about time! Merese!
Executive Order 774, entitled “Reorganizing the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change” as signed by PGMA for immediate implementation on Dec. 26, 2008. The EO appoints the President as Chair of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC). Thus, the EO formally tells DENR Sec. Lito Atienza who, as Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, has accomplished diddly, to step aside. Imagine a miffed Commander-in-Chief telling a foot soldier to take a hike for failure to hold a gun straight: “Kon indi ka kahibalo mag-obra, abi pahigad da!” This must be very, very embarrassing for Atienza. If I was the guy, I would recoil in shame to whatever dark hole I wiggled out of.
Sec. 1, Letter B of the EO commands that offices of all Cabinet members IMMEDIATELY PRACTICE PROPER SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PURSUANT TO THE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT. Hahahahaha! It doesn’t take a Master’s Degree to realize that by exacting obedience out of the offices of the Cabinet members first, the President is livid, and is turning intolerant, about Atienza’s failure to implement R.A. 9003. But she cannot single out the DENR, so she sends all of her charges to stand at the corner, so to speak. And this is a good thing, for then the other secretaries will get into Atienza’s skin for getting them in trouble with the President, through no fault of their own.
Now, I’m beginning to like PGMA again. I should have warned Atienza a long time ago about crossing this President: Back in the early 80s when I was a student at the Ateneo, when you are scheduled to enroll in an Economics class, you better enroll early or end up in the class of Arroyo, the so-called Economics Department “terror.” Guess who that Arroyo was? Hahahahaha!
With the order for Cabinet offices to practice Solid Waste Management (SWM) immediately, why don’t we help out the President? Let’s all march to the local offices of the DENR and its downline agencies and see if indeed they are already segregating their garbage. And if they’re not, we should report them. Text your reports to this newspaper. And please include actual names and titles.
The President getting involved in the implementation of SWM could be our last chance at SWM success. If the President’s orders cannot be respected, then we’re doomed. I am also thankful that the President called the practice of SWM “the most basic form of environmental responsibility.” Meaning, SWM must be done because it is the most basic. Meaning, if the offices of these Cabinet secretaries cannot even practice SWM, knock on their heads and ask, hello, is anybody home?
Sec. 2, Letter A of the EO warns the DENR and the LGUs to reduce the generation of solid waste by 50% within six months. That means, by June 26, 2009, at the latest. What? Another six months, after Atienza gave LGUs a six-month extension last May 5, 2008? I should get upset with the President, but hey, her additional six months carry more promise than Atienza’s own extension that expired like a rained-out pyrotechnic.
With the new deadline set by this EO, the volume of garbage collected by our city today, around 200 tons per day, must be reduced to 100 tons, max! And that’s by June 26, 2009! Mayor Bing Leonardia, in his last SOCA, was made to report by his spinners that Bacolod is now collecting only 150 tons of garbage per day. Obviously, the Mayor’s writers wanted to impress us, but their claims will now boomerang. If indeed 150 tons per day is correct, then the Mayor must now reduce that to 75 tons by June 26, 2009. Which is easier to accomplish, 100 tons or 75 tons? Ooops.
With this EO, I think claiming that Bacolod collects 200 tons per day sounds safer than 150 tons. If City Hall insists that we generate only 150 tons of garbage per day, when in fact we collect 200 tons, there will be a difference of 25 tons when these conflicting numbers are reduced by 50%. What does City Hall do with that? That’s at least three dumptrucks of garbage per day that City Hall must hide just because the Mayor was made to claim in his SOCA that Bacolod generates only 150 tons of garbage per day. City Hall spinners didn’t see this problem coming, did they?
This new six-month timetable set by the President means waste segregation, ASAP. Educating the public about SWM, ASAP. Collecting residual waste only, ASAP. This means a lot of work for a DENR and an LGU who have been disobeying the law for five long, long, long years, or since open dumps were declared illegal on Feb. 16, 2004. Good luck!
Sec. 4, Letter A of the EO gives hope to the residents of Brgy. Felisa. According to this section, after six months, or starting June 26, 2009, a massive campaign must be started to restore and regenerate protected areas. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Bacolod City, authorized by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board back in 2002, identifies Felisa as a protected area that must be preserved. So there.
Letter B of the same section states that “water resources and watersheds shall be IMMEDIATELY identified and protected and their water flow improved and their floral cover regenerated.” This should put a smile on the face of Atty. Juliana Carbon, GM of BACIWA. Why? Because BACIWA has five pumping stations in Felisa, where water has now shown the presence of fecal coliform in three water tests conducted thus far.
EO 774 is long-overdue. But better late than never. Thank you, Madam President! Brilliant, as usual.*
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