LGUs told to stop violating law on solid waste

Sen. Loren Legarda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—Sen. Loren Legarda has appealed to local governments to comply with Republic Act No. 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) as 576 open dumps are still operating after the law banned these in 2000.

The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC), in its website, said Central Visayas has 118 open dumps; Central Luzon, 68; Eastern Visayas, 64; and Bicol, 63.

At least 81 sanitary landfills are in operation while 53 are under construction, it said.

As of 2012, NSWMC said only 414 of 1,610 local governments followed RA 9003. It cited technical and financial constraints on why local governments have failed to implement the law.

But Legarda, main author of RA 9003 and chair of the Senate committee on environment, said there was no reason for local governments not to comply with the law.

“The fact that there are compliant [local governments] only means that it is doable and there is no reason why others could not follow suit,” she said.

Controlled dumps, which counted only 65 in 2000, increased to 321 last year. The number of materials recovery facilities in villages, which reached 1,384 in 2006, increased to 9,624 last year. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon