Manila fails to learn from garbage tragedy

MANILA – It’s business as usual at Payatas, Manila’s largest rubbish dump.

Four years after a mountain of garbage collapsed at the open dump, killing 205 people and burying a slum colony ironically called “Lupang Pangako” (Promised Land), thousands still call it home. Despite the overpowering filth and stench, Payatas still remains a sort of promised land for uneducated, unemployed and homeless Filipinos who can turn the waste into quick cash.May came to Payatas 13 years ago after her husband died and she needed a job to feed her three children.She survived the disaster in 2000 and stayed on.”I have to eat,” the frail 42-year-old said as she rummaged through the trash, looking for anything that could be recycled.She is one of 4,300 waste pickers thought to live among tens of thousands of slum dwellers in communities on, around and near 6 mountains of open garbage in the city of 10 million people.The money they can make, up to 250 pesos (US$4,5) a day, doesn’t sound like much, but it is a handsome return compared to the 150 pesos they can expect for less hazardous menial jobs.In the wake of the Payatas disaster, there were bold pledges to clean up open dump sites and find safer areas for the city’s refuse.But with the sites expected to reach capacity by the end of 2004, there’s still no alternative in sight.Local governments outside Manila have refused to accept the roughly 6 700 tonnes of garbage the capital generates every day.The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration to intervene.”That’s the only viable option available,” ADB programme coordinator Richard Ondrik told Reuters.Underlying the failure to resolve the garbage crisis are the same problems that help keep 40 per cent of Filipinos living on less than US$2 a day, in particular corruption and severe spending constraints on the indebted government.An ADB study said a lack of transparency and financial accountability accentuated the problem in the Philippines, which has been ranked among the most corrupt countries in Asia.The ADB study showed about 3,5 billion pesos (US$63 million) is spent every year to collect and dispose of garbage in Manila.Stung by the high-profile disaster, the government enacted into law in January 2001 an ambitious bill aimed at altering age-old practices that contributed to bursting dump sites.But more than three years after the Ecological and Solid Waste Management Act took effect, very little has changed.The government has yet to convert open sites into controlled pits with proper waste control and very few practice mandatory waste segregation.Only 11 per cent of refuse is recycled.- Nampa-ReutersDespite the overpowering filth and stench, Payatas still remains a sort of promised land for uneducated, unemployed and homeless Filipinos who can turn the waste into quick cash.May came to Payatas 13 years ago after her husband died and she needed a job to feed her three children.She survived the disaster in 2000 and stayed on.”I have to eat,” the frail 42-year-old said as she rummaged through the trash, looking for anything that could be recycled.She is one of 4,300 waste pickers thought to live among tens of thousands of slum dwellers in communities on, around and near 6 mountains of open garbage in the city of 10 million people.The money they can make, up to 250 pesos (US$4,5) a day, doesn’t sound like much, but it is a handsome return compared to the 150 pesos they can expect for less hazardous menial jobs.In the wake of the Payatas disaster, there were bold pledges to clean up open dump sites and find safer areas for the city’s refuse.But with the sites expected to reach capacity by the end of 2004, there’s still no alternative in sight.Local governments outside Manila have refused to accept the roughly 6 700 tonnes of garbage the capital generates every day.The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration to intervene.”That’s the only viable option available,” ADB programme coordinator Richard Ondrik told Reuters.Underlying the failure to resolve the garbage crisis are the same problems that help keep 40 per cent of Filipinos living on less than US$2 a day, in particular corruption and severe spending constraints on the indebted government.An ADB study said a lack of transparency and financial accountability accentuated the problem in the Philippines, which has been ranked among the most corrupt countries in Asia.The ADB study showed about 3,5 billion pesos (US$63 million) is spent every year to collect and dispose of garbage in Manila.Stung by the high-profile disaster, the government enacted into law in January 2001 an ambitious bill aimed at altering age-old practices that contributed to bursting dump sites.But more than three years after the Ecological and Solid Waste Management Act took effect, very little has changed.The government has yet to convert open sites into controlled pits with proper waste control and very few practice mandatory waste segregation.Only 11 per cent of refuse is recycled.- Nampa-Reuters