Innovation

I found myself seated on a rainy afternoon in front of a Cebuano engineer whose name has made waves nationally. Victoriano Ocon recently won the 2026 Presidential Filipinnovation Awards for his technology on waste disposal. The rain was distracting me, making me sleepy for a moment, but he caught my attention when he said he had tried to win over many local government units to adopt his technology. His was nothing extraordinary, but a careful mix of his engineering knowledge and love for the environment.

He uses a thermal waste-treatment system, which employs controlled, low-oxygen thermal gasification and decomposition instead of open incineration to convert residual municipal waste into combustible gases. It uses heat but makes the process controlled enough to recover energy. The end goal is to turn that heat into something useful, like steam or electricity. The technology aims to reduce garbage requiring land disposal by up to 96% while complying with standards set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Its ash by-product can also be treated into fine sand for hollow-block production.

At this time, only 20 local government units are interested in the technology, four of which are in Cebu. The rest are still considering and doubting this kind of technology. For whatever reason, we are sure that this is one welcome solution to our ongoing waste problem. We remember that Cebu City continues to be at a loss over what to do with its trash, still resorting to hauling it elsewhere for the meantime. The city bleeds millions from the garbage generated by its residents and establishments. In the long run, we are sure to be overwhelmed.

I'm curious about the thoughts of leaders who are not expediting the process of finding solutions to our waste problem. In a few months, it will be the anniversary of the trash slide in Binaliw. We are still at a loss over what happened, with no update from the environment department on its investigation, which was relegated to Manila. We were told that a technical team was here to conduct its own findings, but we were never shown them. Our waste continues to pile up and one problem comes after the other.

With people like Ocon, we can also choose to invest in his technology but innovation is only one part of the equation. It takes leaders willing to listen, take calculated risks, and make decisions before problems become disasters. For others, it is all about political will and how far our chief executives are willing to go to solve this problem. We cannot keep waiting for another tragedy before we take our garbage seriously. Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves what we have learned. We have engineers who can offer solutions, technologies that deserve consideration, and a problem that will not disappear on its own. What we need now is not another promise. After all, innovation means little if those who have the power to make it happen refuse to move.