We would have wanted to hear the President emphasize ecological solutions to the waste and pollution problems afflicting the country in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday. It would have driven home his point in closing Boracay Island for six months for rehabilitation. The President should rally the whole nation in embracing proven waste prevention and reduction strategies, including waste segregation at source, reusing, recycling and composting, to tame the ballooning national production of garbage estimated at over 40,000 tons per day. Now is the time for the President to direct national government agencies and local government units to actively implement Republic Act 9003 through the replication of best practices in ecological discards management and the strict enforcement of prohibited acts such as the manufacture, distribution or use of non-environmentally acceptable packaging materials, littering, open dumping, open burning, and waste incineration.

Don't forget the Environment. (2018, July 24). Panay News, p. 8.