On the eve of Election Day, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has aired a last-minute appeal to candidates and voters to observe a litter-free election.
The DENR reminded candidates to tell their supporters not to leave “a deadly avalanche of election trash” at the polling places and to take down all campaign posters after the voting.
“Let us not turn the 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 changed 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 urging their supporters not to clutter polling places, street corners, lawns and sidewalks with leaflets and other campaign paraphernalia.
He also asked local government officials—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 to make sure local officials, political parties, party-list organizations, candidates and their supporters adhere to the provisions of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, during the campaign period.