MANILA, Philippines - Are we a nation of litterers? Litters in the streets, parks and other public places are common in Metro Manila. Street cleaners sweep the streets in the morning. Minutes later, litters appear. This is because passengers in cars, public utilities, and other vehicles as well as people walking or those just standing by throw their things around. When there are events in the parks, plazas and other places of gatherings expect truck load of litters after the occasion. So it seems littering is a habit to some and no one enforces the anti-littering law.
Throwing litters anywhere reflects undisciplined people. Even some foreigners throw things around. They don’t do this in their country, but they do it in the Philippines. They just follow what some Filipinos do.
There is an anti-littering ordinance but it seems there is no one enforcing it.
Litters everywhere is unsightly. It’s shameful for foreign guests to see how we maintain public places. Garbage can clog the drainage and cause flood. Can we do something to stop littering?
We can do something for a litter-free Philippines. Amend the anti-littering ordinance and include more rules such as requiring vehicles to install their own trash cans and also business establishments to maintain cleanliness in their surrounding and install trash cans within their area. Then enforce the ordinance strictly.
We can also hold an annual nationwide cleanliness contest involving barangays, towns, cities and provinces. We select the cleanest barangay, town, city and the province with the most number of winners will be the cleanest. We select the top 5 per category. We also declare the dirtiest top 5. With this contest, every barangay, town and city will do its best to win. They will do their best otherwise they may land in the dirtiest category.