Manila: Some 600 local government executives across the country are being investigated for violating local waste management laws in a move touted as a significant stride in the move to protect the environment.
According to the anti-graft watchdog, the Office of the Ombudsman, nearly 600 local executives, from mayors to vice mayors and local council officials, are being investigated for violations of environmental laws such as illegal dumping and disposal of solid wastes, corruption and others.
Despite the passage of the law on solid waste management in 2000, Republic Act 9003 of the Solid Waste Management Act (RA No. 9003), regulations and restrictions on large-scale disposal of refuse has been largely ignored in the country of more than 100 million.
Under RA No. 9003, “no open dump sites shall be established and operated, nor any practice or disposal of solid waste by any person including local government units (LGU), which constitutes the use of open dumps for solid wastes, be allowed after the effectivity of this Act. Every LGU shall convert its open dumps to controlled dumps.”
But years after the law was implemented, investigators said that R.A. No. 9003 remains to be the least prioritised local government programme.
In the Philippines, it is not unusual to see open dumpsites, especially in urban areas of the country where people have little knowledge of laws on the environment.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said government environment protection agencies identified and submitted the list of 350 local government administrations with recurring and blatant violations of open dump sites.
Complaints filed by environmentalist groups were instrumental in prompting government action on the waste problem. “In 50 complaints filed by Romeo Hidalgo of the EcoWaste Coalition [an environmental watchdog], it was reported that field investigations reveal that the officials committed violations of Ecological Solid Waste Management Act,” Carpio-Morales said.
Under the Solid Waste Management Act, “mayors, vice-mayors and Sanggunian [local council] members have the mandate to establish policies and having control over the funds of the city.”
“These officials conspired in committing the violations of R.A. No. 9003 within their jurisdiction,” she said.
There have been reports before that local officials had been benefiting from allowing waste to be dumped in their areas in exchange for bribes from businessmen.
