DILG: 71 Central Luzon LGUs have no garbage plan

By Ding Cervantes

CLARK FREEPORT – Seventy-one of 94 local government units (LGUs) in Central Luzon still have no approved solid waste management plan while only 45 percent segregate waste.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government bared this at close of recent summit here dubbed “Synergy of Central Luzon Leaders Envisioning a Cleaner Manila Bay.”

Only 39 LGUs in Central Luzon have effective materials recovery facilities while only 58 comply with proper residual waste disposal, Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbiterio Velasco Jr., chairman of the Manila Bay advisory council, citing a DILG report said.

Velasco urged Congress to amend the Solid Waste Management law to give LGUs more time to comply with its requirements. 

 “It is difficult for the LGUs to comply will the requirements of the law given their budgetary constraints,” he said. 

Velasco said the national government should put up  landfills and materials recovery facilities.

He urged local government officials and stakeholders to unite in efforts to clean the river channels that drain into Manila Bay, referring to the Pampanga river basin, Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando river system and Talisay river.

The Supreme Court had required concerned local governments to undertake measures to clean Manila Bay to make it fit for swimming again.