Only 4 Davao City barangays comply with Solid Waste Act: COA

ONLY four of 182 barangays in Davao City maintain material recovery facilities in violation of Section 32, RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, the Commission on Audit revealed in its report released last June 22.

This means 98 percent of barangays in President Duterte’s hometown are non-compliant with the law aimed at promoting recycling to bring down the city’s expense in hauling fees and reducing the volume of garbage that end up in landfills.

A breakdown of the city government’s operating expenses in 2016 showed it shelled out P151.735 million for “environment/sanitary services,” which was P17.02 million higher than what it spent for the same purpose in 2015.

Based on the record of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), there are supposed to be 16 MRFs already built and operating but onsite inspection by government auditors revealed the existing MRFs are located only in Barangays Crossing Bayabas, Dumoy, Hizon, and Mahayag.

“Previously established MRFs in Barangay Gov. Paciano Bangoy, San Antonio – Agdao, Centro – San Juan, Lapu-lapu, Sasa, Matina Pangi, and Calinan Proper were discontinued due to a variety of reasons such as funding and changes in priorities of the administration,” auditors said.

It is not that Davao City’s barangay executives do not understand their obligations under the law as COA even noted that “awareness of the Solid Waste Management Act is high” among them. The problem is the failure of the city official concerned to enforce the law.

“Interviews with barangay officials from Dumoy, Calinan Proper, Matina Pangi, and Indangan revealed that the City Environment and Natural Resource Office allows the collection of non-segregated wastes and the mixing of source-separated waste with other solid wastes,” the COA said.

Residents surveyed by government auditors from 14 of Davao City’s most populated barangays confirmed these observations. The figures all pointed at laxity in implementation: 84 percent of respondents said the CENRO permits collection of non-segregated/unsorted wastes, 78 percent said the city does not use separate collection schedules for bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable waste, and 62 percent said even waste already separated at the source were mixed together anyway during collection.

“These practices increase not only the volume of waste for collection and disposal defeating the purpose of waste segregation but also the spending for private hauling services. In addition, disposal of non-segregated or unsorted wastes in the sanitary landfill instead of strictly residual wastes reduces the useful life of the facility,” the COA pointed out.

These were verified during site inspection at the Davao Sanitary Landfill located at Barangay New Carmen in Tugbok, Davao City.

Engr. Elisa P. Madrazo, CENRO Davao City, acknowledged the audit findings but defended the office, saying she relied in good faith that the city barangays will “exercise due diligence in performing their functions as mandated by law.”

Madrazo assured auditors that CENRO will work to strengthen enforcement of RA 9003 by closely monitoring and coordinating with each barangay. (Malaya Business Insight) Photo Credit: Rappler.