By Carmel Loise Matus
Cebu Daily News
CEBU towns were called on to emulate the disaster risk programs of San Francisco, Camotes island which recently bagged a United Nations award for disaster reduction last week.
Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia, who also heads the Mayor's League of the Philippines-Cebu chapter, lauded San Francisco, Camotes Mayor Aly Arquillano for his leadership that led to his town winning the 2011 United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction.
San Francisco, Camotes will receive a US $50,000 grant equivalent to P2.1 million which will be used for the town’s two million trees project.
The amount will also support the town’s Food for Work Project.
The Sasakawa Award “is a symbol of excellence and outstanding achievement in environmental inspiration and action,” said the UN Environment Program (UNEP), which sponsors the prize.
In a phone interview, Garcia said Cebu's towns are fully aware of disaster risk reduction programs since they had long been attending seminars and forums on this held by the UN.
“Each town has its own unique way of managing disaster. Camotes is too small it’s very easy to manage. The bigger the towns, the bigger your scope, the bigger are your plans also for the management of your town,” Garcia said.
The MLP president and mayor said he was happy that the town received the award and said there are similar programs in other Cebu towns which were also qualified to win the award.
Garcia said he would call on other mayors to focus their efforts on solid waste management.
In Dumanjug town, Garcia said he is campaigning for barangay captains to implement their own solid waste management program.
He cited the importance of community participation in implementing disaster reduction and solid waste management programs in Cebu's towns.
“This (garbage) problem is all over the province of Cebu as well as the whole Philippines,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he plans to set up a material recovery facility (MRF) for Dumanjug town with assistance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7).
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
How Naga cut garbage collection by half
By Shiena Barrameda
Philippine Daily Inquirer
ALMOST EVERY night at around 9, a couple with their two young boys in tow are on a bicycle with a sidecar, stopping at Jaime Hernandez Avenue in front of the first gate of University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City.
They are a common sight around the place, periodically stopping at piles of trash along the road, and inspecting the entire heap for recyclable items and those that can be turned into compost.
This done, they load the dirty treasures into the sidecar and rearrange the trash they do not need into a neat stack before leaving it behind and proceeding to scour the streets for more trash.
The couple is among some 70 “waste-picker” volunteers of the Naga City Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO), who have been trained by the city government to help its 27 barangays reduce garbage on the streets.
Watch group
“These people are mostly former regular scavengers until we detained them for leaving in disarray the garbage piles around Naga,” says Joel Martin, head of the SWMO and the Naga City Motorpool.
Martin says the scavengers have been transformed into “responsible” waste-pickers and are now called the “environmental watch group.”
The group is composed of poor and homeless people who make a living through salvaging and selling nonbiodegradable trash, such as plastics, to junk shops and making compost fertilizers out of those biodegradable, such as corn husks.
Before being registered into the group, its members undergo a weeklong training at the SWMO, where they learn how to recycle garbage and how to restack residual or remaining trash in a cleaner way, Martin reveals.
Night workers
They are then assigned to areas close to their communities. They are seen usually at night, before the garbage trucks arrive, wearing green and yellow T-shirts.
A waste-picker earns an average of P100 a day selling the items collected to recyclers and compost makers. The group also sells to Manila-based recycling establishments and local malls with environment-related projects, according to Martin.
“The creation of the group is actually part of the waste diversion goal and waste segregation scheme of the city. So far, coupled with the operation now of some materials recovery facilities, they have been instrumental in decreasing the average of garbage collected per day by the city by more than 50 percent,” he adds.
Martin says that even before the SWMO was devolved from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the city government in January, average daily garbage collection in Naga from January to October last year went down to 57.1 tons—thanks to the waste-pickers program that was started that year.
Segregation works
This figure was only a dream in 2008 and 2009, when the daily garbage collections were 140-160 tons and 100-120 tons, respectively, he says.
Martin also credits the significant decline in collected garbage to the people’s newfound awareness on waste segregation.
“Our residents have realized that they could benefit greatly from reusing some of their trash,” Martin says. “I think this is already the result of all our efforts in campaigning for the recycling and reusing of garbage.”
He calculates that if Nagueños continue to subtract from their household refuse all the reusable and compostable products, the daily garbage collection may even go down by 47 to 40 percent in the next few months.
Martin believes that the stricter monitoring of establishments, particularly food businesses, has helped the SWMO in its waste management campaigns.
Materials recovery
Lately, he says, many food businesses have almost altogether stopped using Styrofoam and plastic utensils, opting instead for washable plates, utensils and glasses.
Another factor that adds to the decline in garbage is the materials recovery facilities or MRCs.
The MRCs are common points in villages or places where residents bring their garbage and sort them out, separating the reusable or recyclable ones from the residual wastes which have no use anymore.
These residual wastes are the ones that the garbage trucks pick up and take to Balatas Dump in Barangay Balatas on the outskirts.
Naga has six functional MRCs in Barangays Sabang, Triangulo, Calauag, Mabolo, Bagumbayan Sur and public market.
“We are planning to put MRCs in all barangays of Naga,” Martin says.
He acknowledges some problems of disciplining most residents on how to properly dispose of their trash, but he adds that he remains hopeful that more and more people will eventually become concern with environmental protection issues.
“As for now, we do our job so we can deliver the best service that we can give.”
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
ALMOST EVERY night at around 9, a couple with their two young boys in tow are on a bicycle with a sidecar, stopping at Jaime Hernandez Avenue in front of the first gate of University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City.
They are a common sight around the place, periodically stopping at piles of trash along the road, and inspecting the entire heap for recyclable items and those that can be turned into compost.
This done, they load the dirty treasures into the sidecar and rearrange the trash they do not need into a neat stack before leaving it behind and proceeding to scour the streets for more trash.
The couple is among some 70 “waste-picker” volunteers of the Naga City Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO), who have been trained by the city government to help its 27 barangays reduce garbage on the streets.
Watch group
“These people are mostly former regular scavengers until we detained them for leaving in disarray the garbage piles around Naga,” says Joel Martin, head of the SWMO and the Naga City Motorpool.
Martin says the scavengers have been transformed into “responsible” waste-pickers and are now called the “environmental watch group.”
The group is composed of poor and homeless people who make a living through salvaging and selling nonbiodegradable trash, such as plastics, to junk shops and making compost fertilizers out of those biodegradable, such as corn husks.
Before being registered into the group, its members undergo a weeklong training at the SWMO, where they learn how to recycle garbage and how to restack residual or remaining trash in a cleaner way, Martin reveals.
Night workers
They are then assigned to areas close to their communities. They are seen usually at night, before the garbage trucks arrive, wearing green and yellow T-shirts.
A waste-picker earns an average of P100 a day selling the items collected to recyclers and compost makers. The group also sells to Manila-based recycling establishments and local malls with environment-related projects, according to Martin.
“The creation of the group is actually part of the waste diversion goal and waste segregation scheme of the city. So far, coupled with the operation now of some materials recovery facilities, they have been instrumental in decreasing the average of garbage collected per day by the city by more than 50 percent,” he adds.
Martin says that even before the SWMO was devolved from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the city government in January, average daily garbage collection in Naga from January to October last year went down to 57.1 tons—thanks to the waste-pickers program that was started that year.
Segregation works
This figure was only a dream in 2008 and 2009, when the daily garbage collections were 140-160 tons and 100-120 tons, respectively, he says.
Martin also credits the significant decline in collected garbage to the people’s newfound awareness on waste segregation.
“Our residents have realized that they could benefit greatly from reusing some of their trash,” Martin says. “I think this is already the result of all our efforts in campaigning for the recycling and reusing of garbage.”
He calculates that if Nagueños continue to subtract from their household refuse all the reusable and compostable products, the daily garbage collection may even go down by 47 to 40 percent in the next few months.
Martin believes that the stricter monitoring of establishments, particularly food businesses, has helped the SWMO in its waste management campaigns.
Materials recovery
Lately, he says, many food businesses have almost altogether stopped using Styrofoam and plastic utensils, opting instead for washable plates, utensils and glasses.
Another factor that adds to the decline in garbage is the materials recovery facilities or MRCs.
The MRCs are common points in villages or places where residents bring their garbage and sort them out, separating the reusable or recyclable ones from the residual wastes which have no use anymore.
These residual wastes are the ones that the garbage trucks pick up and take to Balatas Dump in Barangay Balatas on the outskirts.
Naga has six functional MRCs in Barangays Sabang, Triangulo, Calauag, Mabolo, Bagumbayan Sur and public market.
“We are planning to put MRCs in all barangays of Naga,” Martin says.
He acknowledges some problems of disciplining most residents on how to properly dispose of their trash, but he adds that he remains hopeful that more and more people will eventually become concern with environmental protection issues.
“As for now, we do our job so we can deliver the best service that we can give.”
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
Friday, April 1, 2011
In Pangasinan, rivers breathe again
By Yolanda Sotelo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE VIEW from bridges traversing Dagupan City and several Pangasinan towns is changing—the waters are clear and clean, and fishing boats sail unimpeded. Even the breeze seems fresher.
It was a much different sight a few months back when the rivers choked from the maze of fish pens, cages and traps. Navigating was difficult and fishermen were deprived of fishing grounds.
But the rivers are starting to breathe again, cleared of fishery structures that had occupied almost every available space.
In Dagupan, around 90 percent of the structures are gone, records from the city agriculture office show. Emma Molina, city agriculture officer, says only fish traps remain, but these will be dismantled soon when dredging machines reach their areas.
Removal of the fishery structures in Dagupan’s rivers started in October last year. As of December 30, 2010, a total of 927 pens and other structures had been dismantled, either by their owners or by the city government.
Mayor Benjamin Lim has imposed a moratorium in the issuance of aquaculture lease agreements “in hopes of letting the river system recover from further environmental degradation” and to give way to dredging operations.
The rivers are the Salapingao-Dupo to Centro, Patogcawen in Dawel, Tanap and Pugaro, which have been declared critical because sections of the waterways have become shallow (with water levels less than a meter deep).
“We hope to recover three to four meters in terms of water depth once the dredging operations are completed. It will take about a year to dredge the three main branches of our river system, operating at normal conditions, and both [dredging] machines working at the same time. We will not stop until we have reached our objective,” Lim says.
The provincial government aims to bring back the rivers’ beauty and productivity and to help control flooding when the rains come.
Tommy Cabigas, deputy head of the Task Force Kalikasan, says the main rivers and tributaries in Binmaley, Lingayen and Bugallon towns have also been cleared of illegal structures.
Task force members are conducting similar operations in the rivers of San Carlos City, and San Fabian and Labrador towns, and are helping dredge the Salapingao River in Dagupan. “So far, we have cleared a total of 110 kilometers,” Cabigas says.
No easy job
Clearing the rivers is no easy job even if the task force has policemen as members, he says.
“After we dismantle fish structures and we have turned our backs, the owners try to reconstruct them, especially the fish traps. We had to confiscate their nets and even filed cases against four operators in Binmaley and two in Lingayen for their refusal to remove their structures. A task force member was also stabbed while he was resting,” Cabigas says.
But their efforts are paying off. Residents and visitors notice the improvement in the waterways.
In Dagupan, Lim says fishermen are starting to reap the benefits from the removal of fishery structures.
“More fish are able to swim upstream and are being caught by our local fishermen. Fishermen have increased their daily income from P200 to P300 to as much as P500 to P600,” he says, citing interviews conducted by the city agriculture office.
Some 100 km in western Pangasinan, Anda and Bolinao are likewise dismantling fish pens at the Kakiputan Channel, which the two towns share. The channel, which is regularly hit by massive fish kills, has become polluted.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) gave financial assistance for the demolition in western Pangasinan—P1.2 million for Bolinao, P400,000 for Anda, P226,000 for Bani, and P180,000 for Alaminos City.
With the assistance, local governments would have no more reasons not to demolish and remove the illegal structures, says Nestor Domenden, BFAR regional director.
He says the bureau has long recommended the reduction of cages and dismantling of pens at the Kakiputan Channel and rivers. The agency also urged aquaculture players to follow guidelines on distance between structures, stocking density and feeding to avoid fish kills and pollution.
“In the long run, the regulated and efficient farm operations will result in better production and cleaner environment,” Domenden says.
Source: Philippine Daily INquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE VIEW from bridges traversing Dagupan City and several Pangasinan towns is changing—the waters are clear and clean, and fishing boats sail unimpeded. Even the breeze seems fresher.
It was a much different sight a few months back when the rivers choked from the maze of fish pens, cages and traps. Navigating was difficult and fishermen were deprived of fishing grounds.
But the rivers are starting to breathe again, cleared of fishery structures that had occupied almost every available space.
In Dagupan, around 90 percent of the structures are gone, records from the city agriculture office show. Emma Molina, city agriculture officer, says only fish traps remain, but these will be dismantled soon when dredging machines reach their areas.
Removal of the fishery structures in Dagupan’s rivers started in October last year. As of December 30, 2010, a total of 927 pens and other structures had been dismantled, either by their owners or by the city government.
Mayor Benjamin Lim has imposed a moratorium in the issuance of aquaculture lease agreements “in hopes of letting the river system recover from further environmental degradation” and to give way to dredging operations.
The rivers are the Salapingao-Dupo to Centro, Patogcawen in Dawel, Tanap and Pugaro, which have been declared critical because sections of the waterways have become shallow (with water levels less than a meter deep).
“We hope to recover three to four meters in terms of water depth once the dredging operations are completed. It will take about a year to dredge the three main branches of our river system, operating at normal conditions, and both [dredging] machines working at the same time. We will not stop until we have reached our objective,” Lim says.
The provincial government aims to bring back the rivers’ beauty and productivity and to help control flooding when the rains come.
Tommy Cabigas, deputy head of the Task Force Kalikasan, says the main rivers and tributaries in Binmaley, Lingayen and Bugallon towns have also been cleared of illegal structures.
Task force members are conducting similar operations in the rivers of San Carlos City, and San Fabian and Labrador towns, and are helping dredge the Salapingao River in Dagupan. “So far, we have cleared a total of 110 kilometers,” Cabigas says.
No easy job
Clearing the rivers is no easy job even if the task force has policemen as members, he says.
“After we dismantle fish structures and we have turned our backs, the owners try to reconstruct them, especially the fish traps. We had to confiscate their nets and even filed cases against four operators in Binmaley and two in Lingayen for their refusal to remove their structures. A task force member was also stabbed while he was resting,” Cabigas says.
But their efforts are paying off. Residents and visitors notice the improvement in the waterways.
In Dagupan, Lim says fishermen are starting to reap the benefits from the removal of fishery structures.
“More fish are able to swim upstream and are being caught by our local fishermen. Fishermen have increased their daily income from P200 to P300 to as much as P500 to P600,” he says, citing interviews conducted by the city agriculture office.
Some 100 km in western Pangasinan, Anda and Bolinao are likewise dismantling fish pens at the Kakiputan Channel, which the two towns share. The channel, which is regularly hit by massive fish kills, has become polluted.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) gave financial assistance for the demolition in western Pangasinan—P1.2 million for Bolinao, P400,000 for Anda, P226,000 for Bani, and P180,000 for Alaminos City.
With the assistance, local governments would have no more reasons not to demolish and remove the illegal structures, says Nestor Domenden, BFAR regional director.
He says the bureau has long recommended the reduction of cages and dismantling of pens at the Kakiputan Channel and rivers. The agency also urged aquaculture players to follow guidelines on distance between structures, stocking density and feeding to avoid fish kills and pollution.
“In the long run, the regulated and efficient farm operations will result in better production and cleaner environment,” Domenden says.
Source: Philippine Daily INquirer
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