BACOLOD'S GARBAGE PROBLEM

Friday, December 01, 2006

Sanchez: Hall of Shamer

By Benedicto Sanchez

NATURE SPEAKS

FINALLY, finally, the DENR has finally noticed something amiss with Bacolod City's solid waste management program.

Rhodora Capulso, chief of the regional public affairs office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region VI implied that Bacolod might lose its Hall of Famer status for the Cleanest and Greenest Highly Urbanized City in the Philippines if the city doesn't improve its garbage segregation and slaughterhouse services.

I'm glad Rhodora is back in town. I haven't seen her in ages since our community forestry days. Now, she's back in town to cover not the mountain forest of Salvador Benedicto and Calatrava but the urban jungle that is Bacolod.

My friends and readers know me as a "mountain man," focusing on mountain-related ecological concerns, especially on land tenure, forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods. I was the program coordinator then my organization BIND signed a contract with the DENR to organize the first community forestry program in Western Visayas.

But I live in Bacolod, which is a highly urbanized city. I felt awkward doing environmental and social development work for far-flung communities but not doing anything in my own community. Thus, when the Vancouver-based International Centre for Sustainable Cities (ICSC) came to Bacolod in 2002, I joined the multi stakeholder organization it formed.

The Canadians organized ICSC to bring the idea of urban sustainability into practical action. ICSC views itself as a broker, bringing together the business community, civil society organizations and various levels of government to tackle urban issues. During ICSC-sponsored workshops, our group of government, business and civil society representatives identified solid waste management as a felt need. Our core activities thus focused on waste segregation at source and practicing the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle). Our efforts eventually matured into putting in place Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

The Act was a product of long-standing advocacies by civil society and local government units wrought by the unsystematic management of the country's solid waste.

In line with RA 9003, the group pushed for segregation at source, segregated transportation, storage, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal of solid waste and all other waste management activities which do not harm the environment.

Alas, all our efforts went for naught, both under the administrations of Oscar Verdeflor and Luzviminda Valdez. Now Evelio Leonardia continues their dubious legacy. To ensure compliance with waste segregation at source, we lobbied for the establishment of Material Recovery Facilities in Bacolod's three public markets.

As any jaded observer would note, that has yet to happen. It's still business as usual. Just go early morning or evening around Araneta Street and Central Market. Unsegregated wastes are simply dumped in the streets. While ecological awareness needs to be improved among Bacolod residents, sometimes you can't really fault them. There are simply no waste receptacles in every street corner, let alone segregation bins.

Oh sure, you can't fault the Bacolod aides for doing a good job. They sweep and collect the unsegregated wastes, and dump everything into the public market's skip hoists, those huge waste receptacles in public markets. Then the waste are collected and thrown into the controlled dumpsite.

Of course, a sanitary landfill remains a dream, maybe a pipe dream. More money is spent on hiring cleaning aides rather than creating a system for reducing, reusing or recycling wastes.

For Bacolod's executives, their mindset is not on ecological solid waste management. It's public relations, more like. Good source of employment for the urban poor-and of votes. As for public awareness, it's banking on the principle of out of sight, out of mind, no different from sweeping the dirt under the rug.

No wonder, Bacolod is now a flood-prone city. Its drainage system is clogged by trash. I'm sure the city government spends a bundle just to declog the system after floodwaters refuse to drain itself after a heavy downpour.

If the national level award is reactivated, Bacolod should compete not with the four other Hall of Famer cities of Baguio, Puerto Princesa, Olongapo and Marikina. I've been in these last three cities recently and I'm impressed. With Bacolod, it should consider competing for the Hall of Shame. I'm sure it will be an early favorite. Comments are most welcome. Please send email to bqsanc@yahoo.com For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
(December 1, 2006 issue)