A COUPLE of weeks ago, residents of Manila, the country’s premier city, woke up to find their garbage fees soar to about 1,200 percent higher with some netizens commenting they had come to a point when they could no longer afford to consider anything even those which no longer has value as trash.
Just imagine some small businesses which used to pay P1,200 for their garbage fees reporting an increase to as high as P14,000. Some even described the increases as “mapagsamantala.”
In fact, some were even saying this could result in the downfall of the city’s popular mayor, Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso.
Although this was an act of the city council, Domagoso defended the hefty increase in garbage collection fees imposed by the city government. Of course, it’s the mayor who has the final say in approving Ordinance 9151, the ordinance which provided for a 12 times increase in garbage fees.
In his “Talk to the People,” the mayor said the last adjustment to garbage collection fees was made in 2013, prompting the city to implement an increase in 2026 to reflect the actual cost of waste collection and disposal.
Domagoso cited several factors that contributed to the higher expenses, including the nearly doubled volume of garbage generated in the city, rising fuel prices, increased wages of garbage collectors, longer hauling distances to the San Mateo, Rizal, landfill and outstanding commercial obligations left behind by the previous administration.
The mayor said the decision to raise the garbage fee was one of the hardest decision he had to make but at the end of the day, he said everyone has to bite the bullet to address the city’s financial challenges, as he stressed the city government opted to prioritize funding for basic public services over allowing a large portion of its budget to be consumed by garbage hauling costs.
Appealing to Manileños and the business owners for support for the city’s efforts in addressing its waste management concerns, Domagoso said garbage management is a shared responsibility.
“Help me; garbage problem is a shared responsibility. Tulong-tulong tayo. Help me to make Manila great again,” said Domagoso as he urged the residents and stakeholders to cooperate in waste reduction and proper disposal as part of its efforts to improve sanitation and public services in Manila.
“In the long term, the people of Manila will benefit from it,” said the mayor.
Yes, I agree with Domagoso. In times like these, the first thing we see is the negative impact of such a decision. And we can’t blame the people for a delayed realization as we only see the long-term positive effects after its execution, the benefits of which are realized after the sacrifices.
However, such backlash could have been prevented if the increase had been implemented on a staggered basis, even before 2025. And Domagoso wasn’t solely to blame for this.
The garbage fees were last adjusted in 2013, during the time of former president and Manila mayor Joseph Estrada, who held the reins of the city up to 2019. Domagoso assumed the stewardship from 2019 to 2022 before Honey Lacuna took over in 2022 up to 2025 before Domagoso reassumed the mayoralty post. And for 12 years, the issue of an outdated garbage fee rate was overlooked. Until the present city administration took cognizance of the matter. And of course, with a 12-year gap in adjustment, any increase would have to be expectedly hefty, as the city government had been shouldering the annual increases as Domagoso had cited, in garbage collection.
But the increase in the fees had to come whether sooner or later, or as in ASAP. And further delay would result in a heftier increase if that would happen next year or even much later.
And that we cannot avoid.
