Gloria to oversee Metro garbage problem

President Arroyo will meet with local government units in Metro Manila to discuss solutions to the growing garbage problem.

Addressing participants of the Solid Waste Management Summit yesterday, Arroyo identified garbage as the primary problem in Metro Manila.

Arroyo arrived during the later part of the whole-day affair, hoping to hear a consensus on how to immediately solve the garbage problem.

However, the President was met by confusion as most participants started to promote their proposals for the ultimate solution, while accusing other sectors of causing the crisis.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Benjamin Abalos, who spearheaded the summit, came up with a declaration of the summit consensus.

Based on the declaration, each of the LGU’s is required to implement waste reduction, segregation at source, composting, recycling and re-use within this month.

Abalos disclosed that the LGUs should each present sites for the development of facilities for the program.

The funding for the development of the site would be provided by the MMDA from its P1.9-billion budget, allocated originally for the development of sanitary landfill facilities.

The site may either be government-owned or private property which would be purchased by the MMDA.

Former Philippine Stock Exchange President Jose Luis Yulo, speaking for the Pro-Environment Consortium, presented a three-stage solution to the garbage problem which was endorsed by Abalos.

Under the Pro-Environment Consortium solution, the garbage would be segregated then brought to a recycling facility and whatever is left, baled and disposed of in a landfill.

As an immediate solution, garbage would be brought to a temporary site where it would be composted.

Abalos mentioned four provinces that have supposedly expressed its desire to host the recycling, segregation and composting, namely Laguna, Bataan, Zambales and Rizal.

A series of protests immediately followed Abalos’ pronouncements, particularly from the NGOs of Rizal and Zambales which claimed that their provinces would never accept any garbage from Manila.