CORNER PILE Baguio City is one of the country’s top travel destinations, and one of the downsides has been its increasing trash generation, like this still to be collected pile of garbage at Session Road, as shown in this September 2023 file photo. — VINCENT CABREZA
MANILA, Philippines — “Magpaka-Grade 1 po tayo. Wastong pagtapon ng basura po.”
(Let’s be like Grade 1 [pupils]. Proper waste disposal, please.)
This was the call of 1-RIDER Partylist Rep. Rodge Gutierrez to the public as he, together with other government officials, met to discuss proper waste disposal and flood mitigation.
READ: Risks loom as worsening garbage mess pushes deep PH dive into waste-to-energy
The meeting was held with House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and officials of the Departments of Public Works and Highways, Environment and Natural Resources, Interior and Local Government, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) last Tuesday.
“The main takeaway from the meeting is that this truly requires a whole-of-nation approach,” Gutierrez said, as quoted in a statement on Sunday.
“It doesn’t rely only on the national government. The programs and projects alone cannot be solely relied upon while we are, of course, anticipating the impending crisis that comes with floods,” he noted.
“We also have to focus on short-term preventive measures, and one of those that was discussed is that we need to have an information drive,” he added.
READ: MMDA calls for proper waste disposal
The Department of Labor and Employment’s “Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers” or TUPAD Program and Out-of-School Youth Serving Towards Economic Resiliency (OYSTER) were also tackled.
“Our TUPAD program is being implemented to provide employment opportunities for those who are unemployed. They hope to leverage it to become a cleaning and greening program,” said Gutierrez.
“Plus, we also have OYSTER, the MMDA’s youth empowerment program, where they are usually tasked with cleaning up our road systems and maintenance. In the same way, they will also be tapped for drainage,” he went on.
“So, this is seen as a medium-term, or maybe you could say short-term, measure,” the lawmaker concluded.