BAGUIO CITY – The National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) defended its previous action of approving the city’s revised 10-year solid waste management plan (SWMP) without the endorsement of the city council, claiming that its action was above board and in line with the revised rules and regulations in the confirmation of SWMPs of local government units nationwide.
In his letter dated June 13, 2016 to Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, NSWMC Executive Director and Chief of the Commission’s Solid Waste Division Eligio T. Ildefonso explained that because of the prescribed 30-day timeline of review of SWMPs submitted by local governments, the Commission opted to endorse for approval all SWMPs that complied with the annotated outline report before it has to be adopted by the LGU Sangguniang Bayan or Panlungsod or Panlalawigan.
“Any changes that will be made by the Sangguniang Bayan or Panlungsod or Panlalawigan to the approved LGU SWMP can be submitted back to this office for updating of the said plans,”Ildefonso stated.
It can be recalled that some members of the city council questioned the NSWMC action to approve the city’s revised 10-year SWMP even if it was not yet approved by the local legislative body over the past nine months that it had been pending.
NSWMC Resolution No. 39, series of 2009 provides for the guidelines in the review and approval of the 10-year SWMPs of local government units and it further provides that the draft LGU SWMP should have been submitted to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional office for review. The latter may either accept or return the draft with the reasons of returning to the LGU for revision and upgrading. In case the SWMPs are accepted, these should be endorsed to the local SWM board for adoption and them referred to the Sangguniang Bayan or Panlungsod or Panlalawigan for confirmation before being submitted back to the EMB regional office for endorsement to the NWSMC Secretariat.
However, Ildefonso explained that due to the limited number of SWM staff in the EMB regional offices, coupled with the influx of submissions of SWMPs for review and approval, both at the regional offices and at the NSWMC Secretariat, the process was no longer followed in the case of Baguio City.
Further, he added that the majority of the SWMPs accepted by the EMB regional offices which were confirmed and endorsed by the Sangguniang Bayan or Panlungsod or Panlalawigan for approval were turned down by the Commission due to missing information in the different sections of the SWMPs.
With the said scenario, Ildefonso disclosed that many local chief executives had brought to the attention of the Commission their concerns that they can no longer present back their denied SWMPs to the local legislative bodies once corrected, as it was already adopted and endorsed earlier by their respective SWM boards, as well as their respective legislative bodies. Earlier, NSWMC approved Resolution No. 198, series of 2015 approving the revised 10-year SWMP of Baguio City on October 13, 2015 even without the confirmation of the city council.
By Dexter A. See