A stricter implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste management Act (R.A. 9003) will be pushed by environmental advocates.
According to the environmental watchdog, EcoWaste Coalition, this will be done following the collapse of the Rizal Provincial Sanitary Landfill last Friday which was feared to have buried four employees.
Waste prevention and reduction, specifically, will be pushed by the group to ensure the safety of operation of sanitary landfills.
The Office of The Environmental Ombudsman together with the NGAs, LGUs and non-government organizations recently launched the Solid Waste Management Compliance Program last Monday to celebrate Earth Day.
According to the OEO, this partnership seeks to inform the public on the critical need of implementing the provisions of the act and hold concerned government officials and personnel accountable for its implementation.
Acting National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition, Aileen Lucero said that 13 years has passed since the enactment of this law and until now, it has not been fully implemented yet.
“It is high time that we address the government’s feeble implementation of the law on a national scale,” Lucero said.
“The recent tragedy in a sanitary landfill in the province of Rizal could have been prevented had the government instituted such reforms much earlier,” she added.
An estimated 300,000 metric tons of trash reportedly collapsed last April 19 from the five-month inactive portion of the landfill that buried backhoe operator Gary Balahibo and maintenance personnel Pablito Esto, Rovidico Olog, and Eddie Malano.
National Solid Waste Management Commission and Co-Chair of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Task Force Dumps and Incinerators, Romeo Hidalgo said that this was not the first time that it happened. [PNA]
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