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2 years ago
Ondoy’s lessons ignored in trash-filled Manila cemeteries
The lessons from tropical storm Ondoy, which brought epic floods in the nation’s capital partly as a result of garbage-clogged canals and drainage systems, seem to be lost on Manila residents who generated tons of garbage during the observance of All Saints’ Day over the weekend.
Tony Dizon, a coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, said parts of the Manila North Cemetery, Manila South Cemetery, and the Chinese Cemetery resembled garbage dump sites with mounds of trash piled up in many corners of the most populated burial grounds in the metropolis.
“We are really saddened by what we have seen. It’s as if they didn’t learn from the floods brought by Ondoy and Pepeng. Parang walang nangyari,” Dizon lamented in a phone interview with GMANews.TV on Monday.
He attributed the massive flooding brought by Ondoy to the clogging of storm drainage and waterways due to plastic rubbish and other trash.
Every year, the EcoWaste Coalition conducts information drives in Metro Manila’s main cemeteries by handing out leaflets on the hazards of improper waste disposal. But even though they had beefed up their campaign, Dizon said: “Marami pa rin ang nagtatapon ng basura kung saan-saan sa sementeryo (A lot of people still throw their trash anywhere in the cemeteries).”
Dizon said their main goal is to minimize the amount of garbage in cemeteries, which he said could pose health hazards by emitting harmful fumes. He said data from Manila City Hall showed that from November 1 to 5 last year, about 180 trucks of garbage were hauled from the Manila North, Manila South and Chinese Cemeteries. The trash collected weighed approximately 1,145 tons.
This year, Dizon said the group is hoping that the figures would go down. Notes
