Monday, May 04, 2015


TAGBILARAN CITY, May 1 (PIA) –For making a statement on its support to local governments’ initiatives in implementing the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) law, Capitol through Governor Edgar Chatto handed in P450,000 worth of waste management projects and P210,000 worth of cash reward to Bohol’s best town implementers in garbage management. 

Gov Chatto, in recent awarding ceremonies handed in P200,000 worth of waste management projects to Balilihan town, which topped Bohol towns in solid waste management best practices with a rating of 76.13. 

Evaluated along with Balilihan are Bohol’s 46 towns and Tagbilaran City, using the parameters used by the National Solid Waste Management Commission for the 2013 calendar year, according to Maria Socorro Trinidad, Bohol’s ESWM coordinator at the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO).

Also rewarded, with P150,000 worth of project which the town will soon identify is Duero, picking 74.45 points. 

The town which ranked third among Bohol’s solid waste management implementers is Cortes (74.38), which capped a P100,000 in projects.

The three towns, along with 7 other winners in the top ten list, showed outstanding seriousness in managing their solid waste, putting up sustainability mechanisms and even generated funds from garbage collection to selling of recyclables, practiced strict waste segregation at source to land them in the top. 

Also in the top ten and receiving at least P30,000 in cash which would be used to enhance all their ecologiocal solid waste management programs are Jagna ((72.75), Lila (71.83), Corella (69.50), Alburquerque (64.92), Baclayon (64.50), Maribojoc (62.17) and Loon (56.83), data from the provincial ecological solid waste management council evaluation team showed. 

The evaluating team, comprising of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Interior and Local Government, Education, Provincial Planning and Development Office, Health Office and the BEMO, made evidence based document reviews for town ESWM, made field visits to barangays and random inspection of households to be able to come up with the ratings, explained Trinidad. 

Evaluators said most Bohol towns have already designated ESWM focal persons, had private sector representatives in their local ESWM councils, conduct regular ESWM council meetings or inserted ESWM issues in town council gatherings, put up local budget allocations, adopted a decade long integrated solid waste management plan including waste segregation and characterization at source, put up temporary control dumps, collected garbage fees, and planned to put up sanitary landfills in the most immediate future.

But even with the relative successes in ESWM in Bohol, the Provincial Ecological Solid Waste Management Council still recommends continuous information, education and communication to all communities especially on waste segregation, the sustaining of the practice of reduce, reuse and recycle to minimize full disposal which would not be viable for towns without sanitary landfills. 

The council also recommends training and deputation of ESWM enforcers to strength ESWM program implementation and enforcement, production of other IEC materials like flyers, brochures and other information collaterals. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)

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