Candidates, voters reminded to keep polling places litter-free on Election Day

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje: Supportive. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—On the weekend before Election Day, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources made a last-minute appeal to the candidates and the voters to observe a litter-free midterm election.

The agency issued a reminder to all candidates to order their supporters not to leave trash in polling places, and to remove all campaign posters and banners after the voting.

“Let us not turn schools into dumps when we go out and vote on Monday,” Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said in a news release.

“It is about time we change the face of Philippine politics with clean elections defined not only by an intelligent electorate, but a trash-free one as well,” he said.

Paje said the candidates should take the initiative by ordering their supporters not to clutter polling places, street corners, lawns, and sidewalks with election leaflets and other campaign paraphernalia.

He also asked local government leaders, whether they win or lose, to conduct a post-election cleanup in their localities.

The DENR has entered into a partnership with the Commission on Elections and the Department of the Interior and Local Government for a campaign called “Basura-Free Election 2013: Kalat Ko Sisinupin Ko.”

The three agencies issued a joint memorandum circular (JMC) to make sure that local officials, political parties, party-list organizations, candidates and their supporters would adhere to the provisions of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, during the campaign period.

Paje said the agencies were compelled to issue the JMC in anticipation of a “deadly avalanche of election trash” during the election season.