ENVIRONMENT Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje urged local governments on Thursday to exercise political will in implementing Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, as he appealed to the public to minimize trash when they visit their dead on All Saints’ Day.
“Local governments should exercise political will in enforcing provisions of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. This includes penalizing a person caught littering with a fine from P300 to P1,000, or render community service,” he said in a statement.
Paje issued the appeal as he recalled that last year, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority reported that about a hundred truckloads of garbage were collected from various cemeteries in Metro Manila alone.
Paje urged those who will troop to cemeteries to bring only enough food to avoid wastage, use fresh flowers or potted plants without plastic wrappings and not to leave their trash behind when they leave the cemeteries.
He also urged cemetery administrators to set up enough strategically located receptacles for different
types of waste, and to strictly implement waste-related local ordinances like prohibiting the use of plastic bags.
Paje, likewise, proposed setting up barangay brigades that would go around cemeteries and monitor littering incidents.
“Let us turn All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day into a more meaningful and memorable experience by minimizing waste and pollution in cemeteries,” Paje said.
Meanwhile, a congressman called for a trash-free celebration of All Saints’ Day.
Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Rodolfo “Rodito” T. Albano III of Isabela said it is about time that people going to the cemeteries to be more responsible and careful in handling and disposing of anything that they bring with them to the places of their dead.
“The best way to honor our departed loved ones is to keep their places of rest as neat and clean as possible. Whatever we bring to the public cemetery or private memorial park, and whatever trash or garbage we produce, we must bring it out when we leave,” Albano said.
“Let us honor the dead by respecting their places of rest,” Albano added.