When it rains, it pours

Sad to say, but I finally have to agree that the flood-control projects being undertaken — that I had high hopes for would finally address our flooding problem — are now proving to be still woefully inadequate.

Unfortunately, because the projects are still incomplete and have already been overwhelmed by the almost month-long wet weather, resuming work may actually equate to starting over, but with the additional task of cleaning up what has been damaged or destroyed.

All the billions, most likely trillions even, that the government supposedly spent on flood-control or mitigation projects have beenwashed away as debris.

It is but fair to also point out that climate change is very real and is now proving a very brutal truth that our constant disregard for Mother Nature — by paving over natural waterways, redirecting river flows, cutting down trees, over-developing our natural landscape and converting it into high-density, concrete cities, instead of leaving them as nature intended as natural catch basins, has only shown our disregard for careful urban planning and growth.

I think the only attempt at proper urban planning in the country was done by the Americans in Baguio in the early 1900s. Later on, the US government also had a hand in establishing zoning rules for Manila in the late 1920s, and by the 1940s, it initiated the urban development plan for Quezon City with its grid pattern and generous wide boulevards.

By the 1950s, private development started with Ayala Corp. transforming the swamp lands around its Hacienda San Pedro de Makati into a master-planned community. And clearly, the master-planned community developed by Ayala remains the shining  standard of urban planning and development.

Somehow, along the way, the  government ceded its role of planning how a city should grow and let private developers take over without ensuring the proper safeguards for the environment and natural resources.

While the government allowed the private sector to take the lead in providing much needed housing for the growing Filipino population, it failed to work closely with them to ensure that the proper services and connection to  local  community and  government infrastructure were ensured.

Hence, the willy-nilly connection of sewer lines, basic services such as electricity and water —  all of which  has led to the continuing haphazard connection of services to Meralco, PLDT and other telco service providers, and to Manila Water and Maynilad.

Government has completely disregarded zoning restrictions and allowed construction in areas that are clearly not suitable for housing development, such as in the hills of Tanay, Rizal, that in the past has seen disastrous landslides.

Squatter colonies have been allowed to  build over waterways where the poor communities also dispose of their trash — contributing to the garbage problem that eventually blocks the drainage of natural waterways after heavy rainfall and leads to flooding.

Another vital area where the government continues to fail is trash and garbage control and disposal. We seem to have forgotten that the government formally established a nationwide garbage segregation and solid waste management program with the enactment of Republic Act 9003 (the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) that was signed into law on Jan. 26, 2001.

The  law was passed  after the  tragic disaster  when a massive garbage avalanche at the Lupang Pangako dumpsite in Payatas, Quezon City, killed over 200 people, bringing national and international attention to the country’s severe waste crisis.

The Solid Waste Management Act  requires waste segregation at the source (households, institutions and commercial establishments) into categories like biodegradable, compostable, recyclable and special/residual waste and collection as supposed to be done by  local government units  or LGUs and barangays.

There was even a policy of “no segregation, no collection” wherein uncollected or mixed trash would be left behind.

But here we are, 26 years later, and that program is all but forgotten. Segregation? What segregation? All in one plastic trash bag — wet and dry. Bottles, cans, food waste — all mixed together.

And if you do observe your neighborhood trash collectors, as soon as they pick up your neatly tied black trash bag — as some communities require (although mostly you see the branded grocery trash bags that you have to pay an extra P1 to P2 sanitary waste fee for,) — the collectors immediately rip your trash bag and sort out themselves the bottles, can, glasses, carton boxes for resale to junk collectors while throwing everything in one messy pile into their trash compactor.

So much for segregation.

What government continues to fail to implement that other developing countries have been doing is to put up environmental collection and recycling centers for proper collection of non-biodegradable trash such as old furniture or appliances, construction materials or items such as hard plastics and even hazardous chemicals which should not simply be thrown in the garbage.

In the Philippines, unfortunately, there is no distinction over biodegradable and non-biodegradable items.

Government has not provided any budget for recycling centers where Filipinos can bring their old furniture, mattresses, plastic ware, tires or whatever heavy non-biodegradable object they want to get rid of. Instead, what we see when the floods come are tables, chairs, bicycles, tarpaulins and what-have-you floating in muddied water mixed with oils and whatever toxic fluid that has not been properly disposed of, and plastic in all permutations.

Government cannot shirk that responsibility of ensuring that the public has the proper facility to go to where they can properly dispose of items that they very well know contribute to our flooding and health problems.

Improperly collected and disposed of garbage in far-off areas such as ravines and small rivers and streams eventually find their way back to the city to haunt and pester us.