Silva, Maria Kathrina V.

Environmental Law

2013 400100

January 20, 2014

Providing a truly Green-er field for The Philippines

As our Environmental Law Professor Ambassador Tolentino fondly says,

Philippines is one of the countries with the most number of the so-called "Green
legislations" or legislations that are environmentally related. As much as this fact makes me
truly proud to be a Filipino, the downside is that sadly, as many as the numbers of pages of
these legislations are when combined, is the less number of it that are well-implemented
and properly put into practice. Such is Republic Act 9003 or the Philippine Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act of 2000. It is one of the laws that most of us are all familiar with,
but at the same time, it is also one of the most violated and taken for granted.

Since we were young, we were already taught that we should always throw our garbage
in the proper bins; that we should segregate the Biodegradable materials from the NonBiodegradable materials and that we should practice Recycling and Re-using. Despite these
though, our predecessors still failed to properly inculcate such values into each and every one of
us; hence, they were not properly put into practice and were not incorporated into our lives. This
cycle has gone on for ages, and has also repeatedly ended up as mere failed attempts. But can we
blame it on every new generation when all they can see from their older generations is the blatant
disregard of such values? No, we simply cannot.

As a result, Solid waste became one of the most critical problems of the Philippines.
Responding to this, the Philippine Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was passed
by the Congress and Senate that December and was signed by the President on January 26, 2001.
This act provides for an ecological solid waste management program, creating the necessary
institutional mechanisms, and declaring certain prohibited acts. Sad to say, 14 years and a brand
new administration of our government after but it appears that were still on the same situation
where we once took off. So in order now to achieve this, I believe that it is but proper to address
it first from the very core and basic implementing unit of this law: from the barangays to which
the citizens belong.

Republic Act 9003 mandates that all Barangays shall have their own Barangay Solid
Waste Committee whose function is the segregation and collection of biodegradable,

compostable, & reusable solid wastes. Every household was encouraged to practice segregation
in their own homes. More and more are being aware with the importance of following this so
initially many people comply with it, but not for so long. The reason for this is because they
notice that even though they segregate their household wastes, when the garbage truck provided
by the city government collects such, they all just end being mixed up again inside the
designated collecting truck in their area. The citizens therefore think that their efforts are just
being put to waste.

On the part of the city government though, I understand that maybe this is because it will
indeed be too costly for them to allocate different collecting trucks for each waste category in
just the same area. Therefore, this is where I think it is best that the Barangay Solid Waste
Committee shall step in. With proper coordination and delegation of tasks, they can engage in
several activities by teaming up with other organizations and entities. One option that I came up
with is this: When it comes to the leftover foods which are common household wastes, or the socalled biodegradable component, the Barangay SWM Committee can enter into deals with some
Piggeries in their area so that they can be the regular provider of these Kaning-Baboy to
them. Although some of these piggeries are already using industrial feeds for their pigs, I believe
that in the province, a lot are still using the traditional kaning-baboy because it is less costly.
Now for the compostable component of their solid wastes, their Barangay Eco-center in
coordination with the City Agriculture can team up to develop Organic Fertilizers which they can
supply to the registered ARBs or farmer-benificiaries in their city. Lastly, for their Reusable
Solid Wastes, the Barangay MRF or Materials Recovery Facility in coordination with the
Livelihood Committee of the Sangguniang Barangay shall jointly utilize them by coming up with
creative and ingenuous localized products that they can commercialize in their area. A probable
example to this is the production of hand-stitched bags made from plastic tetra packs which can
be used as shopping bags to be sold on local markets or groceries store, especially now that a lot
of cities have already prohibited the use of plastic bags within each of their areas. Through all of
these combined programs, Barangays will be able to generate jobs for their constituents, earn
additional income which they can use for more projects, and most importantly, they will be able
to contribute great help to the City Government theyre part of because these will significantly
lessen the solid wastes that the Garbage trucks will need to collect in the entire city.

Through the above-mentioned activities or the likes, I believe that the people will again
be inspired to comply with the mandates of Republic Act 9003 or the Philippine Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act of 2000. Theyll be able to see the significant parts that they play and
how they are being helpful to their community as a whole. This will then be the start of a truly
Green-er field for our beloved country, The Philippines.