I had a chance to stay in a family who are 4Ps beneficiary. I lived with them for at least 5 days and experienced firsthand how they are able to cope with life and sustain themselves with whatever benefits they receive from the government every month. This family happens to live in a barangay called Munting Ambling, Magdalena, Laguna.
We were sent to this place as part of a team to look into the programs of government and how effective these programs are especially if they are being felt by people situated in the nooks and crannies of the Philippines like that of Munting Ambling. As a group, we had our findings and recommendations that we gave to the Local Government for their assessment and evaluation.
However, I will not be commenting on the 4Ps program but I might be doing it some other time. What I will be writing about is the program on waste segregation and disposal of that Barangay and the Municipality as a whole. As per my observation, I think they have an excellent strategy. Allow me to describe what I found out in that part of the world.
First, the residents are required to segregate their garbage in a sack. Then there is a scheduled collection just like any other locality. The difference is that the garbage collectors go house to house so there is no piling up of garbage beside the road. And believe me, only a small amount of trash is collected. Why? Because most of the residents are keeping their trash. They are keeping their trash because the barangay is going to replace them with groceries or other goods during barangay assemblies. Good idea, isn’t it? Not only that, they also have a regular barangay clean-up and tree planting day.
You may bring your trash directly to the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) as long as these are segregated. Otherwise, they will bring your trash back to your house and you will also receive a letter from the Punong Barangay with a warning that a repetition will be dealt with more strongly. How do they know that it is your trash? Well, the sacks they are using for their garbage have your names on it.
On the part of the Municipal Government, it has its own version of encouraging people to manage their garbage responsibly. It allows the residents to collect garbage and surrender them to the LGU in exchange for school supplies of their children especially at the start of the school year.
By the way, the garbage in exchange for goods that I’m talking about are the dry plastic bottles, used plastic bags, candy wrappers, junk food containers and other trash that are non-biodegradable. In turn, it will be the responsibility of the local government to properly dispose those trash by bringing them to a recycling facility.
I’m not saying and suggesting that we will copy this program here in the City of Baguio and its surrounding BLITS area. Unlike the Municipality of Magdalena, the big population in the urban and suburban areas are a great consideration. But why not give it a try. If not in the Barangay level, in the purok level at least.
