CALASIAO-Please give us more time.

This was the joint plea raised by the mayors in the province to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in response to warnings recently issued for the compliance to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or R.A. 9003.

The law mandates local government units to establish an ecological solid waste management program by February 2006, more than two and a half years ago.

Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico Jr, president of the Pangasinan Mayors’ League, said time as well as financial constraints, have been limiting local executives, especially to the newly-elected mayors.

“We are appealing to the DENR not to be harsh on them but to give them enough time for their compliance with the said law,” said Guico, who is also   president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, in an interview   with The PUNCH.

The mayors will submit a letter of appeal to the DENR to seek for extension and outline their planned solutions.

Guico noted that mayors from the fourth, fifth and sixth class municipalities could not afford to construct their own material recovery facility (MRF), one of the requirements under the law.

“We understand that it is the law. So what we propose to do is for poor towns to pool their resources together to have their MRF,” he said.

The Solid Waste Management Law calls for a comprehensive solid waste management plan that includes garbage segregation at source, recycling, and composting.

Public officials can be sued by any citizen for violating the law.

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Meanwhile, Wendy Co, provincial environment and natural resources officer of Pangasinan told The PUNCH in a separate interview   that there are easy and practical alternatives.

“Actually, Bamboo can already be used as MRF,” she said.

“If they do waste segregation at source, then recyclable materials will be minimized in their MRF,” she added.

Co said they are already planning to hold an ecological solid waste management summit in the province to help local officials on the issue.#

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