108 local execs face raps over failed waste management

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday issued show cause orders against 108 local chief executives across the country for their alleged failure to prepare and submit their 10-year Solid Waste Management plans.

Interior Government Secretary Eduardo Año directed the mayors to submit within 10 days from receipt of the orders a notarized explanation on why no administrative case should be recommended against them for not submitting such plans in violation of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management law.

Año signed the orders on Wednesday and the local chief executives are expected to receive the documents by early next week.

“We don’t want another case of Manila Bay. These LGUs have, unfortunately, been accustomed to leniency,” he said in a statement.

“The Solid Waste Management plan is a requirement of law, yet for many years they have ignored it. Hence, we have no recourse but to issue show cause orders to them,” he added.

Most of the LGUs are from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), with a total of 78 mayors violating the law.

Lanao del Sur has the most violators with 31 local executives, followed by Sulu with 18; 11 in Maguindanao and nine each in Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.

Eight LGUs are from the Bicol region, followed by five from Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan or Mimaropa; one from Western Visayas; four each from Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon or Calabarzon.

Año stressed that concrete actions should be undertaken to prevent environmental degradation similar to the situation in Manila Bay and the recently rehabilitated Boracay Island from happening.

“If we are serious about protecting the environment, we really have to follow through with the implementation of these laws,” he said.

DILG spokesman Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya said they would give the local officials ample time to submit their explanations before deciding on whether to file administrative charges against them.

“If we find they were negligent we will go to the ombudsman,” he said in a television interview over CNN Philippines.

To avoid facing legal actions, Año urged local officials to immediately submit and implement their solid waste management plans.