PUBLIC Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon said Tuesday that a comprehensive master plan is needed to resolve the country’s garbage crisis.
Dizon issued the statement after seeing a sea of trash, swept by high tide and floodwaters into a drainage channel in Parañaque City Monday.
“It was indeed a garbage crisis,” Dizon said, noting garbage clogging drainage systems is one of the major causes of flooding in the country.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and local government units were cleaning up the washed-up refuse.
Dizon said the Department of Public Works and Highways and allied government agencies have been conducting declogging operations, but improvement was only temporary.
“When we clean one day, the next day, it’s full again,” Dizon said, describing the vicious cycle.
He added that water from the Manila Bay during inclement weather further overwhelms drainage systems already strained by floodwater and accumulated waste.
Dizon called for the development of an action plan that would address the issue long-term.
“We have to fix this now,” he said, noting that each day of delay would mean more waste accumulating in drainage systems.
