WHAT DOES IT MEAN NOW THAT THE PALACE HAS NOTICED THE GARBAGE PROBLEM?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN NOW THAT THE PALACE HAS NOTICED THE GARBAGE PROBLEM?

It is refreshing to hear a Palace spokesperson talking about something that is not political. Even more refreshing is hearing Undersecretary Claire Castro discuss an environmental issue, a topic that has rarely received sustained attention from the country's highest officials.

Of course, I do not think she was merely referring to litterbugs or the sight of uncollected garbage along our streets. Her statement could very well be a signal that Malacañang is finally recognizing that the country's garbage problem has grown into a national environmental, economic and governance crisis.

Many people believe the problem is that we are running out of landfill space. I see it differently. The real problem is that we never built enough sanitary landfills in the first place, while many open dumpsites continue to masquerade as compliant landfills despite violating Republic Act No. 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Increasing fines against those who dump garbage indiscriminately is a good start. Existing penalties have become too insignificant to discourage violators. However, stricter enforcement must accompany higher fines. Environmental laws are only as effective as their implementation.

I also welcome the Palace's reported support for Waste-to-Energy (WTE) technologies. While WTE is not a magic solution, it can reduce the volume of residual waste that ultimately ends up in landfills. Still, the country should remember that the waste hierarchy begins with reducing, reusing and recycling before resorting to disposal or energy recovery.

That brings me to another concern. If you ask me, recycling in many local government units is simply not working. Many Materials Recovery Facilities exist only on paper, while garbage continues to be hauled directly to dumpsites. Sadly, there are persistent allegations that some local officials benefit more from hauling contracts than from reducing waste. The more truck trips made, the more money changes hands. If that perception is true, then recycling will never succeed unless transparency and accountability are strengthened.

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the country is not what happens on land but what eventually reaches our seas. The Philippines continues to be identified among the world's major contributors of plastic waste entering the oceans. That is a distinction we should be ashamed of. Plastic pollution threatens fisheries, tourism, marine biodiversity and even human health through microplastics that find their way into our food.

I hope President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will seize this opportunity to elevate solid waste management into a genuine national priority. We need integrated digital monitoring systems, stricter enforcement, expanded sanitary landfills, functional Materials Recovery Facilities, investments in circular economy industries, and modern technologies that convert waste into valuable resources.

Garbage is not merely a sanitation issue. It is an economic issue, a public health issue, a climate resilience issue and, ultimately, a governance issue.

Now that Malacañang has finally noticed the garbage problem, let us hope this is more than a passing headline. Let it become the beginning of a sustained national movement that transforms waste from a burden into an opportunity and restores our responsibility to care for the only environment we all share.

If I may add one recommendation, I believe the President should consider issuing an Executive Order creating a National Circular Economy and Waste Management Council, chaired by the Office of the President, to coordinate the DENR, DILG, DPWH, DOST, DICT, MMDA, LGUs, and the private sector. Waste management has become too large and too urgent to be left to fragmented implementation by individual agencies.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres  iseneres@yahoo.com  senseneres.blogspot.com  09088877282/08-06-2027

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