EDITORIAL - Blatant disregard

The Solid Waste Management Act took effect years ago but majority of local government units across the country seem to be ignoring the law. Until now they failed to implement some provisions of the law.

The law seems operating without teeth. Blatant disregard of its provisions has been committed by LGUs and no one was haled before the court for failing to implement what must be implemented.

As lead agency to implement the law, local governments have obligations to let their constituents comply with its provisions, such as the need to segregate non-biodegradable and biodegradable waste materials. However, many LGUs failed to take the initiative.

One needs not to look further to see for himself the utter disregard of the law. Even inside his house, his failure to segregate his garbage has been a blatant display of noncompliance with the law.        

A major reason for failure to implement the solid waste management law lies in the fact that no massive information dissemination was undertaken before and after its enactment.

The law simply takes effect with the government not bothering to launch a massive information campaign. It’s sad to note that millions of Filipinos are still unaware that it exists.        

There’s no need to ask Cebu City street vendors as to how much they know about the waste management law. They are hardly seen segregating their garbage. And this clearly shows the city government has never been religious in bringing information campaign to the lowest level.              

The law clearly stated that there is a need to strengthen “the integration of ecological solid waste management and resource conservation and recovery topics into the academic curricula of formal and non-formal education in order to promote environmental awareness and action among the citizenry.”

Implementation of the law should start in barangays. But the problem is that barangays, too, are not doing their part, lacking the will to require households to segregate their wastes.

Many, if not all, barangays in the city continue to collect unsegregated garbage. Yet the City Hall leadership never bothered to lift a finger to remind them about the need to implement the law.

Compliance with the waste management law is every family’s obligation. Unfortunately, the law has been rendered inutile by the seeming lack of strict implementation by the LGUs.