When writing about the Philippines it is difficult to not rehash subject matter. I went back to City Hall to ask about my trash. Specifically my glass which the law requires to be recycled. Talk about deja vu! I did the same thing last year and even wrote about it.
The guy I spoke with told me the same thing as last time. He promised to send a truck to come take the glass. He also discreetly informed me that next time I should just toss the glass in the regular garbage. After our conversation I asked if I could take a picture of a poster hanging in the office. The ladies sitting in front of it playing on their phones kindly vacated the area so I could get a nice unobstructed shot.
Republic Act 9003 is what I want to discuss in this post. Ever so briefly of course because it is only a blog post. This law is basically the nation's garbage plan.
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| https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2001/ra_9003_2001.html |
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, CREATING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND INCENTIVES, DECLARING CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED AND PROVIDING PENALTIES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Like any law it is full of all kinds of definitions and schedules and provisions which are all quite general but do not exactly spell out how this plan will work in real life. For our purposes I want to look at the provision for recycling. This would be article 1, sec.17.
That makes law R.A 9003 completely useless because the provisions in the law cannot be implemented. R.A. 9003 also contains provisions against open burning and we all know that part of the law is not being enforced.
It's not enough that Bacolod City is neither following nor implementing R.A. 9003 but take a look at this sign. That's Mayor Bing Leonardia's smiling mug in the bottom corner. How can Bacolod be on track when they are not implementing R.A. 9003 at all? It's a complete lie. This city is covered in litter and garbage and the air is smoky from open burning and here is the Mayor telling us Bacolod is Back on Track as far as R.A. 9003 goes. How shameless this man is. What a joke!
After all the hassle trying to get rid of my bags of glass I finally did manage to dispose of them. It turns out that on the first Friday and Saturday of the month at SM Mall there is a Trash to Cash program. They accept all kinds of recyclables.
Here are the four bags of trash I brought to turn into cash. Three of them are full of glass and one of them is filled with plastic.
Sadly I was informed that they do not accept glass which means I had wasted my time in trotting these bags out to the mall. I got rid of them later by giving them to some neighbours who are building a fence and needed glass to top it. The bag of plastic was weighed and for 2 kilos I received a whopping 6 pesos.
See that Jolibee bag full of money? Neat huh? They are certainly expecting to turn a lot trash into cash. This program has been happening for 11 years now but the man at City Hall in charge of sanitation did not tell me about it. Why not? Does he not know about it? Did he simply forget? I don't know the answer.
However I have come to a decision and that is to throw everything away. No more saving plastic and glass. Every bottle goes into the garbage. It's not worth the hassle of trying to properly dispose of segregated garbage. No one cares. Why should I?
(f) Recycling - The recycling component shall include a program and implementation schedule which shows the methods by which the LGU shall, in combination with source reduction and composting components, reduce a sufficient amount of solid waste disposed of in accordance with the diversion requirements set in Sec .20.
The LGU recycling component shall describe the following:
(1) The types of materials to be recycled under the programs;
(2) The methods for determining the categories of solid wastes to be diverted from disposal at a disposal facility through recycling; and
(3) New facilities and expansion of existing facilities needed to implement the recycling component.
The LGU recycling component shall described methods for developing the markets for recycled materials, including, but not limited to, an evaluation of the feasibility of procurement preferences for the purchase of recycled products. Each LGU may determine and grant a price preference to encourage the purchase of recycled products.
The five-year strategy for collecting, processing, marketing and selling the designated recyclable materials shall take into account persons engaged in the business of recycling or persons otherwise providing recycling services before the effectivity of this Act. Such strategy may be base upon the results of the waste composition analysis performed pursuant to this Section or information obtained in the course of past collection of solid waste by the local government unit, and may include recommendations with respect to increasing the number of materials designated for recycling pursuant to this Act.
The LGU recycling component shall evaluate industrial, commercial, residential, agricultural, governmental and other curbside, mobile, drop-off and buy-back recycling programs, manual and automated materials recovery facilities, zoning, building code changes and rate structures which encourage recycling of materials. The Solid Waste Management Plan shall indicate the specific measures to be undertaken to meet the waste diversion specified under Sec. 20 of this Act.
Recommended revisions to the building ordinances, requiring newly-constructed buildings and buildings undergoing specified alterations to contain storage space, devices or mechanisms that facilitate source separation and storage of designated recyclable materials to enable the local government unit to efficiently collect, process, market and sell the designated materials. Such recommendations shall include, but shall not be limited to separate chutes to facilitate source separation in multi-family dwellings, storage areas that conform to fire and safety code regulations, and specialized storage containers.
The Solid Waste Management Plan shall indicate the specific measures to be undertaken to meet the recycling goals pursuant to the objectives of this Act.
Section 20. Establishing Mandatory Solid Waste Diversion - Each LGU plan shall include an implementation schedule which shows that within five (5) years after the effectivity of this Act, the LGU shall divert at least 25% of all solid waste from waste disposal facilities through re-use, recycling and composting activities and other resource recovery activities; Provided, That the waste diversion goals shall be increased every three (3) years thereafter; Provided, further, That nothing in this Section prohibits a local government unit from implementing re-use, recycling, and composting activities designed to exceed the goal.Number 3 is undoubtedly the most important because without recycling facilities nothing can be recycled. But apparently there are no recycling facilities in Bacolod or else the official I spoke with at City Hall would have directed me to one where I could drop off my glass. With no proper recycling facilities the end result is that in Bacolod no garbage is being segregated and recycled.
That makes law R.A 9003 completely useless because the provisions in the law cannot be implemented. R.A. 9003 also contains provisions against open burning and we all know that part of the law is not being enforced.
It's not enough that Bacolod City is neither following nor implementing R.A. 9003 but take a look at this sign. That's Mayor Bing Leonardia's smiling mug in the bottom corner. How can Bacolod be on track when they are not implementing R.A. 9003 at all? It's a complete lie. This city is covered in litter and garbage and the air is smoky from open burning and here is the Mayor telling us Bacolod is Back on Track as far as R.A. 9003 goes. How shameless this man is. What a joke!
After all the hassle trying to get rid of my bags of glass I finally did manage to dispose of them. It turns out that on the first Friday and Saturday of the month at SM Mall there is a Trash to Cash program. They accept all kinds of recyclables.
Here are the four bags of trash I brought to turn into cash. Three of them are full of glass and one of them is filled with plastic.
Sadly I was informed that they do not accept glass which means I had wasted my time in trotting these bags out to the mall. I got rid of them later by giving them to some neighbours who are building a fence and needed glass to top it. The bag of plastic was weighed and for 2 kilos I received a whopping 6 pesos.
See that Jolibee bag full of money? Neat huh? They are certainly expecting to turn a lot trash into cash. This program has been happening for 11 years now but the man at City Hall in charge of sanitation did not tell me about it. Why not? Does he not know about it? Did he simply forget? I don't know the answer.
However I have come to a decision and that is to throw everything away. No more saving plastic and glass. Every bottle goes into the garbage. It's not worth the hassle of trying to properly dispose of segregated garbage. No one cares. Why should I?
The Philippines loves laws. They have a law for everything. Thousands of people are employed by government to develop these laws. The government passes these laws and disseminates the information proudly. The problem is, as you've so aptly described, is that they have no basis in reality. People just ignore these laws so do local governments. The country is riddled with examples of this problem. Will it ever change? Doubtful. Does anyone care? Not at all. Is it pathetic? Yep, it sure is. But then again, so much about the Philippines government and business is pathetic. It's a good thing that the people of the country (in general) are so tolerant and peaceful. In any other country, there would be accountability and demands for change.
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