12,000 sign petition vs plastic bags in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—More than 12,000 people have petitioned the Baguio government to enforce a 2007 ordinance that bans the use of plastic bags in the summer capital.

Representatives of various civic groups, students and Baguio families gathered at the City Hall on Thursday to submit their petition to the office of Mayor Mauricio Domogan.

The ordinance directs all supermarkets, grocery and retail stores to stop using plastic bags, and instead wrap or seal purchases in paper bags, buri bags or any containers that use biodegradable materials.

Romeo Concio said up to 96 tons of plastics are collected everyday by the city’s sanitation crew. The city government ships out Baguio garbage to a commercial landfill in Pangasinan province.

Concio said a ban would improve the city’s waste management program. But officials have proposed amendments to the ordinance despite the fact that it has yet to be implemented.

Former Mayor Peter Rey Bautista said he did not sign the ordinance in 2007 because he wanted the plastics ban to be implemented in stages.

However, the office of Councilor Faustino Olowan, who was a member of the city council in 2007, said the ordinance had already taken effect despite Bautista’s decision not to sign it.

The ordinance was “deemed approved after the lapse of 10 days from its submission on July 5, 2007 to the office of the city mayor,” according to a certification issued by the office of the city secretary.

Many of the petitioners, who gathered at City Hall on Thursday, said plastic wrappers or bags clog drains, pollute waterways and take longer to decompose. Vincent Cabreza and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon