Mandaue City Garbage Crisis: A Study in Incompetence

Recently Mandaue City recalled two garbage trucks from Barangay Guizo because the barangay failed to collect garbage in a timely manner and dispose of it properly. 

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/mandaue-city-to-recall-2-garbage-trucks-from-guizo

FOR allegedly failing to properly manage waste within its jurisdiction, Barangay Guizo will lose its two garbage trucks owned by the Mandaue City Government. 

This was confirmed by Guizo Barangay Captain Jesus Neri Sr. in an interview with SunStar Cebu on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. 

Barangay Guizo reportedly violated the city ordinance on proper waste management as it continue to dispose of mixed waste in unauthorized areas. 

The City Government ordered the recall of the garbage on Thursday, Sept. 5, heeding the recommendations from the Mandaue Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro). 

Neri, however, requested the City to recall the garbage trucks on Tuesday, Sept. 10. 

The City, he said, will assume the garbage collection in Guizo as the barangay-owned truck is not functional. 

Multiple citations have been issued to Barangay Guizo. The most recent violation, recorded on April 3, 2024, showed the barangay’s failure to comply with the city ordinance that mandates that waste be disposed of only in designated facilities.

Despite a P5,000 fine being imposed, the penalty remains unsettled, prompting City officials to issue a first and final notice demanding immediate payment.

According to Cenro, Barangay Guizo has been subjected to multiple citations since March 21, 2019, for its repeated waste management violations. 

Cease and desist orders were issued on Jan. 12, 2024, and Jan. 4, 2024, directing the barangay to halt improper waste disposal methods.

The village chief said that waste management is a challenge in Guizo, as they are using only one garbage truck because the other truck is under repair. 

Two important things here need to be noted. The first is that the Barangay Captain, Jesus Neri Sr., requested that the city recall the trucks. Despite his admission that this happened at his request he is calling this act "political harassment" on the part of Mandaue City. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/9/11/village-officials-in-mandaue-city-cry-foul-over-recall-of-garbage-trucks-collectors

Officials of a barangay in Mandaue City, Cebu have cried foul over the recall of city-owned motor vehicles and city-paid job order employees for garbage disposal services.

Barangay Guizo Captain Jesus Neri Jr. said the move of the city government, through city administrator James Calipayan, recalling the barangay’s two drivers and one garbage collector has severely affected its garbage collection.

“We only have one garbage truck and it cannot be avoided that there are times that it breaks down, that's why garbage is not collected timely,” Neri told reporters on Wednesday, September 11.

The vehicles and the workers were recalled by the city government on September 3.

With a population of more than 10,000 people with three major hospitals, hospitals, and a mall, Guizo needs to have adequate personnel and a working garbage truck to prevent uncollected garbage from piling up.

“Before Guizo had only 44.3 hectares but it has expanded to more than 80 hectares now,” said Neri.

Neri added that their workers tasked to collect garbage have complained of delayed salaries.

During the press briefing, Neri showed uncollected garbage that had piled up beside the barangay hall.

“We have a weekly clean up drive, we tried to ask assistance from the city but we were just told their garbage trucks are defective. So what can we do?” said Neri.

Neri described  the recent move by the city government as political harassment.

“It is clear that what they did was political harassment,” said Neri, an ally of Mandaue Rep. Emmarie “Lollipop” Ouano.

Ouano is rumored to be running against Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes, who is currently serving a one-year suspension.

Neri said he has been bashed on social media for the uncollected garbage in the barangay.

“I have been repeatedly ridiculed on social media. I was accused of being remiss in my job. It was in 1997 when I first became a barangay captain here. I wouldn’t last this long if I was not doing my job well. It is not easy to manage a barangay,” said Neri.

Neri appealed to the city government, now headed by acting Mayor Glen Bercede, to reinstate the recalled job-order employees.

He also asked the city to fulfill its promise of helping the barangay in its garbage collection.

If Neri requested the trucks be recalled how is this an act of political harassment? Neri also claims he asked the city to assist with garbage collection but he was told their garbage trucks are defective meaning they cannot offer any help. That is in contradiction to his previous statement Mandaue City will assume garbage collection. How will they do that if their trucks are defective? These statements are contradictory.

The second important thing to note is Barangay Guizo has two garbage trucks but only one is in operation. But who owns these trucks? The Barangay or the City? It would seem the City since they recalled the trucks. Why not simply repair the trucks if that is the problem?

Another issue affecting this situation and indicating the City owns the trucks is job order employees claiming their pay has been withheld for several months. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/594924/mandaue-some-guizo-job-order-workers-say-their-salaries-delayed

Some city paid job order employees in Barangay Guizo have complained about the delay of their salaries.

Antonio Abellanosa, a garbage truck driver and Arjay Serafin, a garbage collector said that usually they could not receive their P4,000 monthly honorarium on time.

(There are days that these will be delayed, there are times two months. Those two months it will not be given in full [they will give that] in two months, they will skip a month and so.]

(It will reach 2 months, it could have been better if the salary is given in full, only one month’s worth of salary will be given. The second pay will be given every two months. And it will be again delayed.)

Abellanosa and Serafin were appointed by the city as job order employees and paid on honorarium basis at P435 daily under the Tourism Department and Promotion Program of the Barangay pursuant to Sangguniang Panlungsod Ordinance no. 16-2023-1837. 

Guizo Barangay Captain Neri said that since February 2023, Lawyer Jamaal James Calipayan designated the first first barangay councilor as the signatory of the Daily Time Record of the city government paid Job Order and Clean and Green Personnel assigned in the barangay instead of him.

Calipayan said that they authorized Arnulfo Capacite because the city trusted him but the supervision and control would still be in the Barangay Captain. 

Capacite is an ally of suspended Mayor Jonas Cortes while Neri is an ally of Congresswoman Emmarie “Lolypop” Ouano-Dizon.

For his part, Capacite denied the two months delay of the honorarium. 

If there would be a delay, the longest time would be two weeks, he said.

He said that he would immediately sign after they would fill up their DTR. 

Calipayan also denied the allegation of Neri that politics was behind the recall of the truck.

Calipayan said that Neri was given enough time to improve their garbage collection system. 

He added that the environmental citation was issued to the barangay since 2018 from a previous administration.

Neri said that they had been trying their best to collect garbage in the barangay. 

He planned to ask for a garbage truck to Mandaue Rep. Ouano-Dizon.

And here is where the alleged political harassment comes in.  Mandaue City Administrator Jamaal James Calipayan does not trust Barangay Captain Neri and they are allied with differing politicians. It is, allegedly, a case of partisan politics. That is, of course, if one ignores the fact Barangay Guizo has been cited for faulty garbage collection since 2018 and Neri has been given plenty of time to improve garbage collection. 

Neri says he has been Barangay Captain since 1997 which is 27 years. That is quite a long time for any one man to hold onto power. He says he would not last so long if he had not been doing his job. However, the garbage woes of Barangay Guizo date back at least 10 years if not more. In 2014 it was reported trash was piling up in Barangay Guizo.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/46181/garbage-left-piling-up-near-guizo-barangay-hall

More than 50 sacks of uncollected garbage awaits motorists and visitors passing through A.S. Fortuna Extension in barangay Guizo, Mandaue City.

The bulk of the garbage, mostly plastic items, are found within walking distance from the Guizo barangay hall.

Guizo barangay chairman Jesus Neri Jr. said they don’t have garbage trucks to collect the trash from these areas.

To reduce the smell, residents covered the garbage with a tarpaulin.

“We’ve called Mandaue City to also collect our garbage but sometimes no one arrives,” Neri said.

“There were times that we told the residents to bring out their garbage, but when no one comes we have no choice but to leave that there,” he said.

Engr. Ricardo Mendoza, chief of Mandaue City Hall’s Solid Waste Management Board, said the garbage trucks run on fixed schedules to collect trash from the city’s 27 barangays.

He said it is each barangay’s responsibility to collect the garbage of their constituents.

In a meeting with some of the barangays, Mendoza said garbage trucks usually prioritize the collection of garbage from commercial firms.

“Instead of the households, they first collect garbage from the companies. Since they have recyclables, they’ll bring these to the junkshops and not to the landfill. It takes them so long to back for the household,” Mendoza said.

“We told the drivers to collect in the afternoon for companies and prioritize the households,” he said.

Mendoza said they tag every household who turn over their garbage to collectors in order to distinguish them from the residents who dump garbage anywhere.

Ten years ago Neri claimed the Barangay had no trucks to collect garbage. It's not certain if that means they had two trucks but both were in the shop for repairs. If the City owns the trucks and they are loaned to each barangay that would place the problem squarely in the lap of Mandaue City. 

Clearly there are a lot of issues going on in this situation. Garbage needs to be collected and it is the Barangay's duty to make sure that happens. Not only is Barangay Captain Neri doing a poor job at ensuring the garbage is collected but he is also divided from the City administration due to having different political allies. What's needed at the very least is better communication between the City and the Barangay. Yet Neri had ten years and more to fix the situation and it has only deteriorated. And who suffers? The people. 

Australian Shames Filipino Politicians By Cleaning Up Dirty Pateros River

It is a shame that the Philippines rivers are so full of garbage. There should be dedicated teams to collecting all the garbage. Instead the Philippines gets dedicated foreigners to clean up their mess. Recently Australian Mike Smith led a ten day clean up and collected 100,000 kilograms of trash.

https://pop.inquirer.net/359187/saving-ph-waters-aussie-citizen-attempts-to-revive-dying-pateros-river

Some of the world’s biggest problems, like trash-filled water bodies, have been a major problem faced by the Philippines. Among the 19 polluted rivers in the country is the infamous Pateros.

A recent viral post on Instagram captured many Filipinos’ attention as an Australian man led the Pateros River cleaning mission.

The cleaning project in the country started a few months back. Headed by Mike Smith, founder of ZeroCo—an Australian company that advocates and markets zero-waste cleaning and personal care products—along with ZeroCo Philippines’ cleanup crew, the initiative aims to save the Philippine rivers before the trash flows into the ocean, living up their mission to ‘untrash the ocean.’

The Pateros is not the only river they cleaned as they already visited several Philippine rivers like the Tanza Marine Tree Park.

Many were amazed and grateful for Smith and urged the Filipino community to support the latter’s content and account, while others expressed that it should be a shame for the locals as they were not able to do the same.

Smith’s company is on a mission to stop single-use plastic and sells zero-waste products. With over 24 million bottles collected in the waters to date, which they turn into refillable ‘forever bottles,’ every single penny they earn goes toward funding large-scale ocean cleanups worldwide.

This is certainly laudable and it is a shame that foreigners have to the jobs Filipinos should be doing. Maybe that is why the Mayor of Pateros, instead of praising Mike Smith and his team, called him irresponsible.

https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/29/pateros-mayor-says-dirtiest-river-cleaned-up-by-aussie-activist-located-in-taguig

Pateros Mayor Miguel Ponce III clarified that the “dirtiest river” cleaned up by an Australian environmental activist and entrepreneur is located in Taguig City and not in the municipality. 

Australian Mike Smith, founder of Zero Co., led the cleanup for 10 days of what he said was a river located in Pateros. 

“The Pateros in Manila (Philippines) is the dirtiest river I’ve ever seen. Over the last week together with @zeroco.com.au and @thehiddenseawine we removed every single piece of rubbish,” he said in a Facebook post. 

He said he and more than 240 Filipino volunteers removed more than 100,000 kilos of trash  from the river. 

Ponce said the river is located in Barangay Rizal, which is now under Taguig and formerly under the supervision of Makati. In a decision which became final last year, the Supreme Court transferred 10 barangays including Rizal from Makati to Taguig. 

“Actually there is nothing like that in Pateros,” Ponce told Manila Bulletin, adding that this is the reason why the Pateros municipal government posted a clarification on its official Facebook page. 

He added, “You will not see a river like that in Pateros. Now I’m wondering why this Australian Mike Smith said it was Pateros river. This is in the boundary.” 

"The truth is, what they cleaned up was an area in Barangay Rizal which was formerly part of Makati and now under Taguig,” Ponce clarified. 

The mayor said Smith was with Taguig volunteers for the cleanup and Pateros was never contacted about this even the barangay nearest to the river. 

Ponce said what was interviewed were residents of Barangay Rizal, Taguig. 

He said the river that Smith cleaned up was the “Taguig-Pateros river but never Pateros river.”

“I hope these irresponsible statements should be verified first. The problem is when territory is being discussed, takeover and income, it’s about Taguig or Makati. But when waste is being discussed, they throw it at Pateros. This is not right, isn’t it?,” said Ponce. 

Now, this is ridiculous, petty, and blatantly false. Mike Smith did not say he was in Pateros he said the Pateros River was the dirtiest he had ever seen. And there IS a Pateros River. It is not the same as the Taguig River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_and_estuaries_in_Metro_Manila

While the Taguig River joins the Pateros River there is no Taguig-Pateros River. Even if the area he cleaned up was close to where the two rivers join this is just a ridiculous quibbling over words

And to make it even more shameful this Australian is hiring local Filipinos to clean up the rivers. 

https://www.instagram.com/mikesmithprojects/reel/C2ZbqptPxQh/

Over the past few months we’ve been quietly scaling our cleanup operation in The Philippines. We now employ 12 locals on the ground to do cleanups and we’re collecting over 4 MILLION water bottles worth of ocean and river waste every month. Our goal for 2024? 50 MILLION WATER BOTTLES OF OCEAN WATE COLLECTED

Why aren't LGUs doing this? Why aren't they doing more to clean up their own nation? Instead they would rather hoist large banners so no one can see the dirty water ways. It's more than just a shame. It is a dereliction of duty.

Backyard Garbage Burn Pile Becomes Backyard Funeral Pyre

I have documented on this blog how Filipinos love to burn garbage. They simply cannot be bothered to gather all the trash, put it in a bag, and wait for it to be collected. Most of the time the result is simply a disgusting gray miasma hanging in the air and creeping through your window. This time burning garbage resulted in a man's death. 

 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/14/octogenarian-dies-in-backyard-fire

An 85-year-old man was burned to death while cleaning his backyard in Barangay Taliba here on Tuesday afternoon, February 13.

Police identified the victim as Sofronio Atienza Marasigan.

Investigation said the octogenarian was burning garbage in his backyard when the fire reached the nearby bamboo trees.

Marasigan attempted to extinguish the flames but lost his balance and fell into the burning bamboo.

He failed to get up and was burned to death.

Firemen put out the fire and found the victim’s body.

This old man was burning his garbage, the fire spread, and when he attempted to put it out he was consumed in the flames. 

Now, of course this is not the normal run of things. This is not usually how sparking a pile of leaves and trash turns out but this time it did. It COULD happen. It's a wonder it does not happen more often. Especially the spreading of the fire. Every single time a trash pile is lit on fire the arsonist wanders away leaving the flames to their own devices. Tragedy is one gust of wind away. 

The lesson is clear. Don't burn your trash!

Picture of the Week: Don't Dump your Garbage here

"Don't Dump Your Garbage Here," reads the sign. How hard is it to not trash up someone else's property? For Filipinos it is incredibly hard. 

That is only one of the many garbage piles around town. 

No doubt everyone who dumped their garbage here looked at the sign and thought, "You can't tell me what to do."

I Stopped A Truck From Illegally Dumping Garbage

While out for a run one recent afternoon I saw a truck filled with garbage pull up next to a local illegal dumpsite. It was very obvious what was about to happen so I whipped out my camera and fired up the video. 

After some hesitation he drove off. 

About a mile up the street are two large trash bins which he must have known about since that is where the driver left his garbage. 

Why do people do this? The garbage truck comes around twice a week. They will even take leaves which deprives those who illegally burn their yard waste of no excuse. Certainly they would take those bags and styrofoam bars.

I am certain the driver knew about these two bins because he did not offload his garbage at the other illegal dumpsite which is just up the street. Of course I could be wrong. But the question remains. Why do these people illegally dump their garbage? And in the middle of the day no less!

Resettling Squatters

This is a picture of a field and is part of an area where the local government is building a relocation site for squatters.

It is also the scene of the horrific rape and murder of a six year old girl by her twenty-four year old neighbor. But more of that later. And who wants more of that later? The fact is the local government is resettling hundreds of squatters way out in the middle of sugarcane country without any plan at all except to get them out of the city. 

Let's begin with this scene.

This picture does not capture the reality it represents. This picture was taken on October 20th, 2020 and shows the accumulation of garbage since 2015 or maybe 2016 when people started moving into this area. I do not know when people first started tossing garbage here but what I do know is that no garbage trucks come this way. There is no garbage collection in this area!

The fact is there is no proper infrastructure at all in this area to support a population. There is no running water or sewage. The electric grid is shoddy and jury-rigged. And there are no roads. Don't let the picture above fool you. There is a small area that is paved but the rest is a muddy and rocky mess.

That is an older picture from February but the point is the same. There is no paved road to this part of the resettlement area. 

Along with the people come their animals. Here is a pig. 

Think of everything that goes with raising a pig and you will being to understand the magnitude of filth that is now in this area. Chickens are there too and that leads to crime.

I was told that other people's chickens had been stolen too but only one man dared to put up such a sign.

The local government is clearing some area and making room for more houses. I thought that they would be building apartments of one kind or another but I was told that they are only clearing lots to sell to settlers who can build their own tin roofed bamboo huts.

It's just going to be a mess.  No running water, no trash collection, none of the amenities that should come with life as provided by the city. They are basically on their own.

This article was originally written in November, 2020. While a bridge has been built and a few roads have been paved everything remains basically the same. The fact is the local government is resettling squatters from the city into the country and have provided little to no infrastructure to support them. The area remains covered in filth, squalor, litter, and is a hotbed of crime. 

Night Trash 10

At some point I stopped taking pictures of night trash because I have too many already. As long as there are stray dogs roaming around at night looking for a meal there will always be night trash.

Broken Fluorescent Lights Tossed in the Grass

I have so many pictures of the Philippines that have been holed up on my hard drive waiting to see the light of day. A lot of these pictures are of trash. It really boggles my mind the way people toss their garbage and I don't mean like a bag of household waste or food. That's understandable sure. It's wrong but I get it. What I will never understand is stuff like this:

That is a large pile of fluorescent lights tossed out on the side of the road. How did they get there? Who has this many burned out fluorescent lights to throw on the side of the road? This is not normal house trash. This is the garbage of an electrician. And he did not just toss them on the side of the road. No, he took his time to hide them behind some tall grass.

It's sad but there is nothing to be done about it except look and document. Eventually someone removed these broken lights but they were replaced with bags of garbage and boxes of empty liquor bottles. In the Philippines the environment just can't win.

Is Waste Management A Human Rights Issue?

I have written quite a lot about garbage on this blog. With there being so much of it clogging the waterways and strewn across the ground, the City of Cebu collected 13k tons of garbage in a recent clean-up drive, it seems there is not much new that can be said about the problem. But here is a totally novel angle on the subject. Proper waste disposal and sanitation is a basic human right. So says the CHR.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143822

Waste management shows how a country values human dignity as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Tuesday recognized improved efforts in time for the observance of Philippine Environment Month in July.

The CHR likewise lauded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) order to close down some 335 open dumpsites nationwide.

In a statement, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said waste management efforts will not only improve environmental sustainability and health outcomes but will surely contribute to the full enjoyment of basic human rights.

"While national and local interventions during the pandemic are largely focused on protecting lives and economies, management of waste is also essential to minimize long-term risks to human and environmental health," she said.

In shutting down open dumpsites, the DENR enforced Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which provides the necessary policy framework, institutional mechanisms, and mandate for local government units (LGUs) to achieve 25-percent waste reduction through the establishment of an integrated solid waste management plans based on 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycling).

De Guia said environmental degradation can lead to "very serious and continuing violations of our human rights".

"People’s health, food and water safety, housing, and overall well-being can be negatively affected by improper disposal of waste and hazardous materials," she added.

Among the health and environmental risks of illegal dumpsites are the contamination of soil and water, increased risks of natural disasters and health issues, and disruption of wildlife, the CHR said.

"Unlike sanitary landfills, illegal dumpsites do not have built-in systems and constant monitoring for environmental safety," she said.

RA No. 9003 specifically bans the use of open dumpsites for solid waste by any person, including LGUs.

This is in response to the DENR's closing of some 200 open dumpsites across the nation.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1128627

"This is my directive to them: All open dumpsites must be closed by the end of March this year!" he announced Tuesday in a message for the RA 9003's 20th anniversary celebration.

Aside from closing open dumps, he said DENR will help further promote the development of sanitary landfills nationwide, practice of waste segregation at home and improvement of garbage collection.

There'll be house-to-house campaigns as well to promote solid waste management among communities, he noted.

"Yes, we can do it!" he added. "And we must do it! Let us all manage our garbage towards a cleaner, healthier and progressive Philippines."

I know for a fact that not all the dumpsites have been closed because there are several in my area that remain as active as ever. The Philippines has a long way to go in rectifying their garbage problem.

But it is it really an issue of human rights? I don't think so. It's an issue of the social contract nature of the Philippine government needing a major overhaul. The constitution is clear the all political power stems from the people.

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

SECTION 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/

In practice we know this is not true. Sovereignty does not actually reside in the people and government authority does not actually emanate from them. The people may elect officials but the people do not craft the laws that govern the nation or direct the policy which goes into enforcing those laws. The people certainly had no hand in writing RA 9003. If they did there might not be a provision prohibiting open burning of waste. 

There is also the problem of the people. Can the people violate their own human rights? That would be silly and yet if proper waste disposal is a human rights issue then it seems they are as it is the people who continue to dump their garbage in open dumpsites. Look at this open dumpsite which is actually growing.

Maybe this picture does not show it very well but this dumpsite is getting wider. You can see at the edge of the picture the garbage all along the sugarcane. The people created this mess despite their being signs which said to not dump there. And the government does not care. In fact this dumpsite is just outside the entrance to a village where the government is erecting a huge welcome arch.

The local government would rather spend thousands on trivialities like this arch then fix the garbage issue. That is highly problematic and indicates that the government does not really care about the safety, health, and well-being of the people.

The issue here is not complex at all. The government that the people created needs to enforce the sanitation laws and create the healthy environment that will be conducive to good living for the people. On the other hand the people need to stop flagrantly violating the laws which the government they elected has enacted for their benefit. It is most certainly not a human rights issue. It's a common sense issue. Stop littering and stop tossing garbage on open dumpsites.

The Philippines Is the World's Biggest Contributor to Plastic Pollution

The Philippines is a land of deception. The Department of Tourism tells the world "It's More Fun in the Philippines"and shows enticing pictures of impossibly beautiful and pristine places. But those places are not representative of the Philippines over all. They are anomalies. The sad fact is that so much of this nation is ugly and polluted. The air, the waterways, and the land are all covered in garbage of various kinds. Now the Rotterdam-based Ocean Clean Up has laid bare the truth for all the world to see.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/06/10/news/national/pasig-river-worlds-top-plastic-polluter/1802635

The Pasig River as well as 18 other rivers in the Philippines were identified as among the top 50 polluting rivers in the world, a study released by the Rotterdam-based Ocean Cleanup said.

Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and intercept it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. It also conducts scientific research into oceanic plastic pollution.

The study found that a quarter of the rivers that were found to be responsible for 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution are found in the Philippines.

The study found the Philippines as the biggest contributor to plastic pollution. Of the 1,656 rivers monitored worldwide, 466 were in the Philippines. Together, the rivers dumped more than 356,371 metric tons of plastic waste annually.

The 27-kilometer Pasig River, which runs through Metro Manila, accounts for 63,000 tons of plastic entering oceans from rivers per year.

The study also said that coastal countries like the Philippines have a relatively high probability of plastic entering the ocean due to various factors, including short distances from land-based sources to rivers and much shorter distances to oceans.

Plastic also flows more easily into rivers from paved urban areas than it does in rivers from forests and travels farther in rainy climates than dry ones.

The researchers also considered the proximity of landfills and dumpsites to riverbanks, finding out that those within 10 kilometers of rivers are likely to spill into them.

The Ocean Cleanup study was released as San Miguel Corp. (SMC), in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), other national government agencies, and Metro Manila mayors, launched its ambitious, five-year plan to clean up and rehabilitate the Pasig River.

The project is set to become the largest river rehabilitation project in the country, with SMC President Ramon Ang announcing that the company's budget for the undertaking is being doubled to P2 billion.

"There have been many cleanup efforts in the past, and government has successfully implemented a number of programs these past few years," Ang said. "But decades of pollution and compounding problems that have rendered the river biologically dead since the 1990s are too significant and complex to overcome - even for the best-intentioned advocates and organizations."

It is rather astonishing that 466 rivers, 25% of those surveyed, on this list are all in the Philippines. You could call it the Philippines' dirty little secret except it's not so secret anymore. It is interesting that the San Miguel Corporation's five-year plan to clean up the Pasig River is mentioned in this article. Why is a private company taking on this task? Becasue Duterte abolished the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, transferring it's powers to the DENR, the Manila Bay Task Force, the DHSUD, the MMDA, and the DPWH. Do you see the problem? Instead of one agency overseeing everything the task was divided up over several agencies who have other jobs to complete than cleaning the Pasig River. Duterte did this because he declared the river uncleanable.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1182766/duterte-to-congress-abolish-pasig-river-rehab-agency

“If Congress is listening, abolish that [PRRC]. There is nothing to clean in the Pasig River. It’s already clean. That’s (already) the state of the art of Pasig,” Duterte said Monday during the oath-taking of newly appointed government officials at Malacañang.

The President lamented that the government is just wasting time and resources with the PRRC which he said “cannot do anything” to revive Pasig River.

“Unless we require every building not only along the river but everybody who has a waste to dump in a sewage or sewerage, nothing will happen. You’re wasting time. You’re paying people for nothing. They cannot do anything,” he said.

This was another one of Duterte's many rash and misinformed decisions. If the river is uncleanable then why would he divide the task to clean it among several agencies? The fact is the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission was formed in 1999 and worked for two decades to clean the river. In 2018 their labor was recognized.

https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2018/10/22/136383/award-winning-rehab-of-biologically-dead-pasig-river-how-it-happened/

It took years of cleanup and follow through not often seen in government projects.

On October 16, Australia-based International RiverFoundation recognized the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission’s efforts to restore the notoriously polluted Pasig River, which runs across the national capital Metro Manila.

The foundation rewards “exceptional efforts in the protection, restoration and sustainable management of the world’s rivers.”

The inaugural Asia RiverPrize for the Pasig River beat the Asian Development Bank and Chinese government’s Yangtze River initiatives.

For almost two decades across administrations, the agency launched “quality projects, programs, activities and advocacies in easement recovery, riverbank development, waste and water quality management, and public awareness,” according to a brief released by the RiverFoundation.

The work is far from over, but the PRRC and its partners believe a complete rehabilitation can be achieved, estero by estero.

The commission projects 14 more years for the Pasig River to be alive again. Its 2017 master plan aims to make the river capable of sustaining biodiverse ecosystems by 2032. It should also become a source of livelihood and recreation.

After 20 years of hard work the PRRC believed they could clean up the river, estero by estero.  That means cleaning the river up one area at a time. They also believed this could be done by 2032. Too bad they had no idea that Duterte destroy their work by shutting them down. 

The fact that the PRRC won an award for their hard work in cleaning up the river shows that Presidential Spokesman Roque is a lair.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143250

Malacañang is saddened that Pasig River has been named as the world’s most polluting river when it comes to plastic waste.

“Nakakalungkot po iyan (That is saddening). That’s not something that we should be proud of,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser on Thursday when sought for reaction. “Dati nga po, meron pa tayong commission just on Pasig River pero wala ring nangyari (There was a commission just on Pasig River before but nothing happened).”

"There was a commission just on Pasig River before but nothing happened." What an outrageous lie. I just showed you that after 20 years the commission's work was recognized. They had a plan and were cleaning up the river piecemeal. Now Roque blusters out "nothing happened." What a profoundly ignorant buffoon he is. And not just Roque. Duterte, the DENR, all of them are deceptive buffoons who think the appearance of cleanliness equals cleanliness.  That is why they are dumping dolomite all over the shores of Manila Bay.

The public has been fooled into thinking that Duterte cares about cleaning up the waterways in Manila because the DENR spent millions to dump crushed dolomite on the shore of Manila Bay. Meanwhile the one body that actually was accomplishing real change, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, was disbanded. It's simply more lies and deceit form the government with the people being the victims. It is because of the deceit and laxity of this administration and past administrations, as well as the nonchalant attitude of the people, that the Philippines has the infamous distinction of being the world's biggest contributor to plastic pollution.