THE Ombudsman on Wednesday said it will investigate at least 600 local-government executives in the administrative regions for violations of Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act of 2000.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales made a statement after Romeo Hidalgo of an environment-advocacy group filed 50 complaints saying, “field investigations reveal that the officials violated RA 9003 and its implementing rules.”
Morales, citing the complainant, said mayors, vice mayors and Sanggunian members have “the mandate to establish policies and having control over the funds of the city” and that “they conspired in committing the violations of RA 9003 within their jurisdictions.”
Under RA 9003, “no open dump sites shall be established and operated, nor any practice or disposal of solid waste by any person, including local governments, which constitutes the use of open dumps for solid wastes, be allowed after the effectivity of this Act, every local government shall convert its open dumps to controlled dumps.”
In 2013, the Environmental Ombudsman Program, in collaboration with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), launched a three-year nationwide campaign to increase awareness of, and promote voluntary compliance with RA 9003.
Under this program, the local government units (LGUs) were directed to conduct their respective self-assessment as to their compliance status and to voluntarily implement corrective actions.
However, the complainant said two years after implementation, tracer results show that RA 9003 remains to be the least prioritized local-government program.
Moreover, the Ombudsman said that the DENR-EMB has identified and submitted the list of 350 local governments with recurring and blatant violations of open dump sites.
Meanwhile, under its mandate, the Environmental Ombudsman Team headed by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera, shall handle complaints filed against any public official, employee, office or agency mandated to protect the environment and conserve natural resources where the act complained of appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.
The team also acts on any malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance committed by any public officer or employee, including conspiring private individuals, if said act or omission involves any violation of environmental laws or concerns, or relates to environmental protection or conservation.
Legarda renews call for strict implementation of ESWM Act
SEN. Loren Legarda on Wednesday renewed her call for local governments to implement RA 9003, or face the legal consequences of noncompliance with the 15-year-old law.
Legarda, principal author and sponsor of the law, made the statement in line with the ceremonial filing on Wednesday of affidavit-complaints of the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) at the Office of the Ombudsman.
A total of 50 local governments from all over the country are the respondents in the affidavit-complaints citing violations under RA 9003.
“It is unfortunate that complaints have to be filed against local governments for noncompliance with a law that was passed 15 years ago. But the law must be implemented and those who cannot comply must face the legal consequences, otherwise, we will never get everyone to comply with our laws,” said Legarda.
“There are several local governments that have effectively and efficiently complied with the ESWM Act. The fact that there are compliant localities only means that it is doable and there is no reason why others could not follow suit,” she added.
In addition, all local governments should have a solid-waste-management plan, which should be submitted to and approved by the NSWMC.
More important, the law dictates that there should be mandatory segregation of waste at source and a “no segregation, no collection” policy. All barangays should have a materials-recovery facility, where waste materials are sorted for composting and recycling, and the residual waste will be brought to sanitary landfills.
Legarda, chairman of the Senate Committees on Finance and Climate Change, hopes that this year, more local governments will be encouraged to implement the ESWM Act, as well as other environmental laws, not only because of the affidavit-complaints filed against noncompliant localities, but also because under the 2016 national budget, funds have been allocated for capacity building programs to help them in the implementation of the ESWM Act.
“The benefits of the ESWM Law are yet to be felt because up to now very few LGUs have been implementing it. But with the Ombudsman at the forefront of programs related to ESWM compliance, I am confident that more LGUs will be encouraged, if not compelled, to take up their responsibility of implementing this law and all other environmental laws to ensure safe, clean, disaster-resilient and sustainable communities,” Legarda concluded.
3 comments
meron din daw open dump site sa San Jose del Monte Bulacan, paki-check po.
Irresponsible disposal of waste or not considering the convenience of other people or the environment is a punishable act.
Businesses and households should be aware and cautious of the environmental policies when it comes to waste disposal and management.