Marcos sounds alarm on ‘critical’ garbage problem amid flooding

National

CRITICAL.

This was how President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. described the country’s problem on garbage as heavy rains exposed the tons of waste choking waterways and pumping facilities.

Marcos stopped short of calling the situation a “garbage crisis” as he inspected clearing operations at a rain-drenched pumping station along Jose W. Diokno Avenue in Pasay and the Redemptorist water channel in Parañaque, both of which accumulated huge volumes of garbage following rains brought by recent weather disturbances.

The President said heavy rains, garbage clogging the pumping station and a damaged trash flap combined to cause massive water buildup.

“Yeah, it’s certainly… look at it. Does that look critical to you? It does to me… I wouldn’t call it a garbage crisis, but that is the problem that we are facing,” Marcos said in a Philstar report.

The administration is also identifying possible sites for waste-to-energy facilities as landfills reach capacity and hauling garbage becomes more costly for local governments. Marcos said garbage could instead be brought to these plants and converted into energy.

He acknowledged that establishing the facilities would not be easy, as the government still has to determine their locations, operating groups and arrangements with local government units.

The technical aspects, he said, have already been addressed.

Marcos said potential sites had been identified and that the government was working on determining how much electricity would be sold and at what rate.

For now, clearing operations are continuing to remove garbage that could obstruct pumping stations and waterways.

Marcos also said stiffer penalties for improper waste disposal would not be enough if people had no proper places to throw their garbage. The government, he said, must provide the necessary disposal facilities.

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, however, called the situation a crisis.

“This is really a crisis. This is really severe,” Dizon said in a separate media interview, quoted in the same article.

He said garbage kept returning to waterways despite cleanup efforts, citing Metro Manila as well as parts of Bulacan, Pampanga and other areas across the country. Dizon also backed stiffer penalties for indiscriminate waste disposal and said the government needed drastic measures, including its waste-to-energy plan.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez, meanwhile, supported proposals to add floodgates and pumping stations in the city. He said existing flood control projects had improved conditions, although they were not “100 per cent effective,” and had helped floodwaters recede faster.

Olivarez said the city regularly dredges waterways and is discussing additional floodgates along the Parañaque River with the MMDA and DPWH.(MyTVCebu)