Now that the elections are over, it’s time to clean up. Literally.
On Wednesday, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) took the initiative to clean up the propaganda materials left by national and local candidates in the aftermath of Monday’s midterm elections. Several truckloads of rubbish were dismantled, scraped off by the CENRO personnel after they were left unattended to by candidates who ran in the polls.
In Manila, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) collected at least seven truckloads of discarded campaign materials in the metropolis. A total of 23.42 tons of garbage were hauled a day after the midterm elections. MMDA workers used scrapers in removing campaign materials posted on concrete walls.MMDA took down 21,700 tarpaulins and posters hung on electric posts.
It is worthy to note that Davao City has a resolution passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod for the cleanup of election materials. The city council passed a resolution urging local and national candidates to conduct clean-up operations after election day which is in sync with City Ordinance No. 0371-10 or the Davao City Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance of 2009. The measure was passed a week before the elections so it must be fresh in the minds of candidates. Surprisingly, it did not stick in the subconscious.
Indeed, old habits seem hard to die. And like elections of the past, these election materials remain undisposed.
So there, it took the city government itself to do the initiative of cleaning up the rubbish left behind by the elections. When will these politicians and their supporters ever learn?
